James Cameron has repeatedly said that he doesn’t think he’ll be able to make more Avatar films if Avatar: The Way of Water wasn’t financially successful. Following an incredible first few weeks in the box office, though, Cameron now says it looks like more films will be on the way.
During a recent episode of HBO’s Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, which featured the director (via The Hollywood Reporter), Cameron spoke about the fact that the sequel to Avatar has already earned more than $1.5 billion at the box office. The filmmaker jokingly said that since the film has now officially reached its break-even point, he guesses that he’ll have to make more films after all.
“It looks like just with the momentum that the film has now that will easily pass our break even in the next few days, so it looks like I can’t wiggle out of this, I’m gonna have to do these other sequels,” Cameron said. “I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years. The point is we’re going to be okay. I’m sure that we’ll have a discussion soon with the top folks at Disney about the game plan going forward for Avatar 3, which is already in the can — we’ve already captured and photographed the whole film so we’re in extended post-production to do all that CG magic. And then Avatar 4 and 5 are both written. We even have some of 4 in the can. We’ve begun a franchise at this point. We’ve begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films.”
Thankfully for Cameron, it seems a good deal of work for Avatar‘s future entrieshas already been done. The director recently spoke of his goals with the franchise and how the story will continue to grow.
“We will also explore new universes while continuing the story of the main characters. I can say that the last parts will be the best. The others were an introduction, a way to set the table before serving the meal.”
Avatar 3 is tentatively scheduled for December 20, 2024. Further sequels also have release dates, with Avatar 4 set for December 18, 2026, and Avatar 5 on December 22, 2028.