James Cameron has been talking up his planned
Avatar sequels for some time now, though little movement has been made toward actual pre-production. He’s set up shop in New Zealand, and reportedly is fine-tuning the scripts for back-to-back shootings on
Avatar 2 and
3. But while attending the world premiere for Peter Jackson’s
The Hobbit earlier, Cameron finally tipped his hand as to when the
Avatar train might get rolling again.
Cameron told
New Zealand Radio that he wants to be finished tinkering with his screenplays in February, with the intent of lensing the first sequel in late 2013.
"I want to get these scripts nailed down. I don't want to be writing the movie in post production," Cameron said. "We kind of did that on the first picture, I ended up cutting out a lot of scenes and so on and I don't want to do that again."
And while many point to Cameron’s Avatar as the picture that heralded the return of 3D (or, at least, proper use of 3D), the director is hinting that he might use the sequels to continue the advancement of 48 frames-per-second, which Jackson is using on The Hobbit.
"If there is acceptance of 48, then that will pave the way for Avatar (sequels) to take advantage of it," Cameron said to the media. "We charged out ahead on 3D with Avatar, now Peter's doing it with the Hobbit. It takes that kind of bold move to make change.”
But he’ll lie back and see how audiences feel about the visual presentation first. Cameron’s smart.
Either way, the Avatar sequels are coming, likely in 2014 ... and maybe in 48 fps. Are you excited?