James Cameron commits to Avatar 2 and 3 as his next films

You asked for it (??) and you got it. Despite numerous other temptations, James Cameron has officially committed to directing two sequels to AVATAR as his next films. The news comes from the official Twitter feed of 20th Century Fox Corporate Communications who just a few minutes ago posted: “James Cameron has agreed to make AVATAR 2 and 3 as his next films.”

Of the news, Cameron said: “With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox. Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience’s expectations for the richness of AVATAR’s visual world and the power of the storytelling. In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of AVATAR’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I’m looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild.”

Sony made a decent effort to steal Cameron away from AVATAR and Fox with their Angelina Jolie/CLEOPATRA proposal but ultimately it seems the director was intent to stay on the world of Pandora.

Whether the AVATAR sequels would be lumped together into one massive production looks to be a likely option but Cameron says he won’t officially decide on that option until after the scripts are completed. Back in August, Cameron said that was something he was discussing with Fox as it “made a lot of sense” but that no decision had been made yet. The first sequel will be released in December, 2014 with the final installment in the franchise hitting theaters in December, 2015.

Cameron will begin writing the scripts for the sequels in early 2011 with production tentatively scheduled to begin later that year. For now you can assume that Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington will return and Cameron did hint recently that Sigourney Weaver would be welcomed back as “Nobody dies in a science fiction movie. Whether Grace lives or dies depends more on Sigourney’s agent than anything.”