James Cameron is steadily pushing away at getting Avatar 3 done by the 2024 holiday season, but he’s already crafting so much about the fourth Avatar.
Speaking to People in a new interview, Cameron dishes about Avatar 4 and the state of the production of the upcoming third movie.
The filmmaker reveals a time jump will be coming by the time the fourth movie rolls around. “We did the [motion capture] capture on three and the live-action photography on three as an intermingled production with [Avatar: The Way of Water], and we even did part of movie four because our young characters are all going to have a big time jump in movie four,” Cameron said.
“We see them, and then we go away for six years, and we come back,” he added about time jump. “And so the part where we come back is the part we haven’t shot yet. So we’ll start on that after three is released.”
As for this round of post-production, Cameron has said the third entry has been smoother, stating: “Three is actually much more straightforward than two. Two, we got hit with the pandemic in the middle of it, and we were interrupted. Then we had to reboot and reboot the production and all that sort of thing. And it was a scramble to get it done.”
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Avatar: The Way of Water was a major box office success, breaking multiple records and grossing over $2.320 billion worldwide. It became the highest-grossing film of 2022, the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the third-highest-grossing film ever.
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Avatar: The Way of Water is directed by James Cameron and sees Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, Dileep Rao, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sigourney Weaver all reprising their roles from the 2009 blockbuster, while new additions to the cast include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Filip Geljo, Jamie Flatters, Bailey Bass, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion, Duane Evans Jr., Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Keston John, and CJ Jones.
Avatar 3 is set for release on December 19, 2025.