Avatar Parts 2,3,4 Script Ready In Six Weeks

[The Ultimate Nullifier]

variety.com/2014/film/news/james-cameron-plans-to-finish-all-three-avatar-sequels-scripts-within-six-weeks-1201156454/


Reddit users got scoop from James Cameron himself on Saturday when the director offered up meaty details about the upcoming “Avatar” movies.

Cameron told the site during an AMA session (“Ask Me Anything” Q&A) that he’s currently working on the scripts for “Avatar’s” three sequels and plans to complete them within six weeks.

“The second, third and fourth films all go into production simultaneously,” he wrote. “They’re essentially all in pre-production now because we are designing creatures, settings and characters that span all three films. And we should be finished with all three scripts within the next, I would say, six weeks.”

Although he wrote the screenplay for “Avatar” by himself, Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno are collaborating with him on the sequel scripts.

“The biggest pressure I feel right now is cutting out things I love to get the film down to a length that is affordable,” he wrote on Reddit.

“Avatar” grossed $2.8 billion worldwide in 2009. The sci-fi epic won Oscars for cinematography, visual effects and art direction in 2010. The new films, which are supposed to introduce new habitats and cultures, are sure to push the technological boundaries of film even further.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, who starred in the blockbuster, will return for the sequels.

[The Ultimate Nullifier]

variety.com/2014/film/news/sigourney-weaver-returning-to-avatar-sequels-as-new-character-1201217032/

Sigourney Weaver will return to James Cameron’s trio of “Avatar” sequels as a new character.

Cameron and 20th Century Fox made the announcement Monday, noting that Weaver’s Gracey Augustine character perished in 2009′s “Avatar.”

“Sigourney and I have a long creative history, dating back to 1985 when we made ‘Aliens,’” Cameron said. “We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the Avatar sequels. Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films.”

Cameron did not specify what role Weaver will be portraying.

“We’re both looking forward to this new creative challenge, the latest chapter in our long and continuing collaboration,” Cameron added.

The “Avatar sequels” will be filmed back-to-back-to-back and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau through their Lightstorm Entertainment.

Cameron announced in December that he would shoot in New Zealand and that he expected the films to be released on the previously announced dates of December 2016, December 2017 and December 2018.

“Avatar,” released in 2009, is the highest-grossing movie ever with $2.78 billion worldwide. The sci-fi actioner was shot in Los Angeles and New Zealand.

The three films will spend at least $412 million (500 million in New Zealand dollars) in that nation as a condition of an agreement between Fox, Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and the government of New Zealand. In return, the films will receive a film industry tax rebate of 25%.

During an October interview, “Avatar” star Sam Worthington said he believed production on the sequel would begin by next October.

Cameron had announced in August there would be three sequels and that screenwriters Josh Friedman (“War of the Worlds”), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (“Rise of the Planets of the Apes”), and Shane Salerno (“Savages,” “Salinger”) would collaborate with him on screenplays for “Avatar 2,” “Avatar 3″ and “Avatar 4.”

Weaver is repped by UTA.