Now that the dust has settled, Christmas has come and gone once again and Avatar: Fire and Ash has been in cinemas for the best part of a month, we can finally start properly wondering if we’re going to be heading back to Pandora for the proposed fourth and fifth movies.
And it seems that, despite writer/director James Cameron’s comments in the third movie’s early days in the cinema, we can indeed bet money on a fourth trip to the planet of the very tall blue people. Earning an estimated $1.2 billion will do that, I guess.
And he confirmed it today, in an interview with TVBS News Japan in which he told them that not only was it happening, but FTN favourite Michelle Yeoh would be heading to Pandora too.
Tidbit:
Michelle Yeoh was pictured on the set of the Avatar movies in 2021, so it’s likely this was something Cameron has been planning for a while now:
We already learned that the trilogy that ended with Fire and Ash is the end of that particular story, and the next movie (or two) will feature new characters, a new story and a time jump and now, it seems, it will also feature Yeoh as a new Na’vi character.
Of course, Cameron was prickly up until now whenever he was asked if a fourth movie was coming; in a recent interview, Cameron said, when asked if he was going to be making the fourth movie: “I’m gonna pose a metaphor to you: when a woman is in labour, she’s just crowning, would you ask her about her next child? Okay, I just delivered this thing.”
The fourth movie was set for release around Christmas 2029, and the fifth then Christmas 2031, but it does seem like Cameron was in some doubt if they would happen, likely depending on how successful the third movie was, but now that it’s comfortably broken the $1bn mark, picking up after a slow start, it seems a safe bet. It’s also funny to think that originally, all five movies were set to be out by Christmas 2025.
As recently as December 26th, Cameron told EW: “I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does. But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out.”
He even went on to joke that, should the plug get pulled, he’ll very publicly announce it: “If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”
He also hinted that he might like to put pen to paper and further flesh out the world of Pandora, it’s culture, species, people and everything in between: “There’s so much culture and backstory and lateral detail in these characters that’s been worked out. I’d love to do something that’s at that level of granular detail.”
So, there you have it, we’re not done with Pandora yet.
See you all at the flicks just before Christmas, 2029.
Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear ’em all.
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Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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