It’s been a full five years since Avatar wowed audiences the world over with its incredible visuals and alien world — a feat that helped spearhead James Cameron’s sci-fi epic to the highest grossing film of all time. Now, all eyes are trained on the status of the film’s series of sequels, after the esteemed director confirmed plans to spin out the lush world of Pandora with Avatar 2, 3 and 4 across 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.
We’ve already heard the filmmaker’s rather frank depiction of the future installments, after he claimed the sequels would be, and we quote, “bitchin’“. But WETA Digital’s Joe Letteri offered up a more eloquent answer in a recent interview with Collider, stating that the Avatar sequels stand as the “most ambitious” projects that the company has ever worked on.
“I think what we’re trying to do for the Avatar sequels will be the most ambitious things we’ve ever tried. James [Cameron] just has such a complete idea of this world – and it is a whole world and it’s a story he wants to tell over three more films. It’s huge in terms of breadth and it’s detailed in innumerable ways I couldn’t get into. It’s the kind of project that requires both very specific high level realism at a small micro-level and that micro-level realism needs to work across an entire planet.”
Pushing the envelope in the technological space is not only part of Cameron’s M.O., it’s also a large reason as to why Avatar performed so well in the first place, with many moviegoers clamouring to view the “must-see” experience in the theater. And, if what Letteri says proves to be true, the filmmaker is only going to go bigger and bolder with the next iterations.
Avatar 2 will offer up our first look at Cameron’s expansive alien world when it lands in 2016, followed quickly by Avatar 3 and 4 in 2017 and 2018, respectively.