Cameron to begin work on Avatar sequels next year

Film studio Twentieth Century Fox and Cameron announced plans for 'Avatar's sequels. Cameron will start writing the scripts for the sequels early next year.

Production on 'Avatar 2' is expected to begin in late 2011. While the first sequel is expected to be released in December 2014, the third movie in the trilogy should be out in December 2015.

Fox said Cameron may shoot the two films back to back to ensure that the third film releases a year after the second part.

"It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world and watch it grow. In the second and third films, which will be self-contained stories that also fulfil a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of Avatar's visual and emotional horsepower," Cameron said in a statement.

The 'Titanic' director added that 'Avatar' was "conceived as an epic work of fantasy - a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world."

Cameron said his 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. He added that he was "looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can
run wild."

Fox studio bosses Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman said, "we had no higher priority and can feel no greater joy, than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the world of Avatar."

'Avatar', a science fiction epic with ground-breaking 3-D technology, grossed USD 2.8 billion at the box office worldwide after its release late last year, becoming the highest grossing film of all time in the US.

The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. The film's Blu-ray DVDs also became the top-selling of all times.

The movie took years to make, with Cameron writing the script in 1994. Estimated to cost over USD 300 million, Avatar is set in 2154 and tells the story of a battle between humans and blue-skinned aliens on a distant moon called Pandora.