With production of Avatar: Fire and Ash just finishing up, James Cameron has opened up on the possibilities of two more Avatar films. The Way of Water and Fire and Ash were shot back-to-back, Cameron clarified in a statement. “Yeah, we started September of 2017. We went for 18 months, but we did both movies, all of it, other than some planned reshoots and some places where I got creative and wrote some new scenes. But the vast majority — call it 95% — was shot in that 18-month window. That was Sigourney playing 15-year-old Kiri across both movies, which actually worked great, because she’s got a story arc across the two movies. There was a kind of a major story arc, where 2 and 3 really tell one big story.”
Based on this comment, it seems that Fire and Ash will bookend certain many plotlines lingering from the first two films. He clarifies later that if 4 and 5 end up happening, they will be less connected to the first 3. “And then ultimately, if I get so lucky, and I make 4 and 5, 4 and 5 tell one big story. So it kind of stops for a beat after the end of 3. I don’t mean we’ll necessarily stop in production, but the story kind of stops and then it jumps forward in time a little bit.” The production of the next two films depends on the success of Fire and Ash. If it performs as well as the first two, the next film will undoubtedly be greenlit. However, due to the monumental production costs of these movies, it’s hard to justify greenlighting something like ‘Avatar 4′ unless you know it is still popular.
Cameron has storyboards and ideas for the next two films, but no shooting has begun. Most signs point to Avatar: Fire and Ash being a smash hit, with the first two films being the highest and third highest grossing films of all time. Even with the 12 year gap between 1 and 2, The Way of Water still grossed over $2 billion. It’s not a guarantee, ‘Avatar 4′ is probably going to happen. We will find out when Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19.
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