Exciting! - 3 sequels!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2524551/Avatar-director-James-Cameron-announces-shoot-THREE-sequels-hit-film-New-Zealand.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2524551/Avatar-director-James-Cameron-announces-shoot-THREE-sequels-hit-film-New-Zealand.html)
ames Cameron has announced that he will make three sequels to sci-fi blockbuster Avatar.
The Titanic director revealed he will shoot the movies in New Zealand, as he attended a press conference with New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key in Wellington on Monday.
The films, which will be made by Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox, have been welcomed in the country and the first sequel will be released in 2016.
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Follow up stories: James Cameron has revealed he will be making three sequels to his hit 2009 movie Avatar
The following sequels will be released in late 2017 and then late 2018.
Cameron said of the plans: 'It's quite a thrill to be officially saying that we're bringing the Avatar films to New Zealand.
'We had such a wonderful experience here making the first film.'
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said: 'The Avatar sequels will provide hundreds of jobs and thousands of hours of work directly in the screen sector as well as jobs right across the economy.'
Revealing all: Director James made the announcement at a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand, on Monday
On location: James will shoot the sequels in New Zealand, where the first film was made
Trailer for James Cameron's revolutionary film Avatar
Avatar, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, was the highest-grossing film in history and made $2.7billion worldwide, along with winning three Academy Awards.
Cameron added that a core team has been developing new software for the sequels, adding: 'It's going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora.
'We're blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it.'
James Cameron announces new Avatar films
Starring roles: The 2009 film starred Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver and Joel Moore. Casting for the new movies has yet to be announced
Cameron said the films will explore different Na'vi cultures as well the cultures of other Pandora creatures.
He said: 'There's a fair bit of underwater stuff. It's been inaccurately said that the second film takes place underwater. That's not true.
Change of scenery: This time around, a lot of the film will be set underwater
'There are underwater scenes and surface-water scenes having to do with indigenous ocean cultures that are distributed across the three films.'
And Cameron added that while the first film focused on the main character, Jake Sully, the follow up films will tell the stories of his family.
He said: 'We spread it around quite a bit more as we go forward. It's really the story of his family, the family that he creates on Pandora. His extended family. So think of it as a family saga like The Godfather.'
Cameron and fifth wife Suzy Amis bought a farm about 90 minutes' drive from Wellington where they spend some of the year with their three children, and the director said the farm feels like 'closing a loop' after he spent summers on his grandfather's farm in southern Ontario.
He said: 'The kids love it here. They love that combination of freedom and responsibility that you get here because you can run freely. There are no predators and snakes and that sort of thing. We just let them go out with a walkie-talkie, and as long as they are back by dinner, we don't care where they are.'
He said he plans to bring his own helicopter from California to help make the commute from the farm to Wellington when he's working on the movies.
Living locally: Cameron and fifth wife Suzy Amis bought a farm about 90 minutes' drive from Wellington, where they spent some of the year with their three children
Before then, he said, he'll be throwing a Christmas party for the community around his farm. He said about 95 people turned up last year but he worries that numbers could be down this year because it's going to be an all-vegan menu, a lifestyle his family recently adopted.
Producer Jon Landau revealed earlier this year that the director and crew will be shooting the second and third film back-to-back, with Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington rumoured to be returning as lovers Neytiri and Jake Sully.
Although Cameron hasn't announced an exact budget for the movies, he expects economies of scale will help the films cost less then $1billion together.
I liked the first movie, but wasn't as blown away as some. Just wish they would get started on these. Long time to wait for a sequel - or sequels.
Quote from: Rico on December 16, 2013, 09:30:21 AM
I liked the first movie, but wasn't as blown away as some. Just wish they would get started on these. Long time to wait for a sequel - or sequels.
I was blow away by the 3D - not the story. I found it to be a re-hashing - with a few twists - of Dances With Wolves.
Still it was relatively well thought out Sci-Fi - and I'll take that. :)
I was blown away also by the visual experience and thought the story, though derivative, was great fun with a great cast.
I might ad that anything with Zoe will have me back in the theater...for all 3 new films..
I never saw this in the theaters, given that the 3D was the big draw and that tech was never that exciting to me because of my poor depth perception. It was the first time I felt like I was missing out on something special due to my disability, due to all the hype and hoopla surrounding this film. When I finally did see it, I felt like it was kind of just blah. The story was nothing special, pretty derivative and I thought the CGI was hit and miss. The creatures were cool, especially the flying beasts, but the blue dudes seemed too cartoonish and unreal to me. The environments and art direction were by far the best element of the film in my opinion. I didn't realize this was the biggest money maker of all time. I wonder if it had more to do with the timing of its release, and a public that was looking for something new and different in entertainment, because for the most part this movie struck me as kind of average and nothing special, especially compared to Cameron's other hits like Terminator, Aliens, and the Abyss.
I think it's success was partially due to the 3D and the visual experience, which was really remarkable, and a story that though derivative, was appealing to a lot of women.
Quote from: Rico on December 16, 2013, 09:30:21 AM
I liked the first movie, but wasn't as blown away as some. Just wish they would get started on these. Long time to wait for a sequel - or sequels.
I liked the film too. I saw it in 3D at a dinky local theater and wasn't very impressed by the technology. I probably should have seen it at an IMAX theater to truly appreciate it. I will watch the new additions, but I'm definitely not expecting to be blown away. And you're right, that is a LONG time to wait for a sequel.
Bryan, I don't know any women who found the film appealing. Maybe it's just that the ladies I know demand more from their sci-fi. ;) That said, I know non-Anomalies who went see it because of the hype. They told me that they liked the message and the environment on the planet.
As I recall the theater was PACKED the night Dave and I saw the film, and we got there very early. I guess 3D is good for something after all... marketing.
It's impossible for a film to cross over that initial $1Billion box office mark without them. The male demo of 18-35 can carry a film to $500M-$700M but without women also going in large numbers it runs out of steam. That's why Tiatnic was another $1B film. But Avatar benefited from a higher average ticket cost.
Not $1B but $2B. Avatar did $2.7B, Tiatnic $2.1B, and the Avengers all the way back at $1.5B. So the two films that drew a larger female audience just kills it.
My wife and daughter both enjoyed Avatar. They are not geeky types either. They were stunned by the 3D, and enjoyed the retelling of Dances with Wolves and Stand With A Fist.. ;)
Quote from: Bromptonboy on December 18, 2013, 10:50:35 AM
My wife and daughter both enjoyed Avatar. They are not geeky types either. They were stunned by the 3D, and enjoyed the retelling of Dances with Wolves and Stand With A Fist.. ;)
Avatar trick was it didn't only have genre appeal, it reached a much wider audience. It was a really fun movie experience.
The wife and I both enjoyed Avatar and I will say she did like it better than I did. We are both looking forward to the sequels.
I would place myself in the group, that was not overly impressed with this movie. I saw it in the Theatre, just once, and that is the only time I have seen this movie. I agree, that the visuals on it are great, but like Joby, I found Na'vi to look cartoonish. I found the story pretty pedestrian as well compared to all the hype the movie got. I did not see it for a few weeks after it opened, so possibly with all the hype, my expectations were set to high. A lot of people who are not fans of the genre were raving about the movie, so maybe that should have been a tip off to me on the audience it was directed to. I might get laughed at, but I found that I enjoyed Titanic and even True Lies more then Avatar.
I will go see the sequels, but sort of getting the feeling they will be heavy on a message Cameron is trying to get across, so that is a bit of a turn off to me. I guess for me, I don't really need a movie to represent some deeper meaning or commentary on something wrong in the world today, to get something out of it. With that said, I am fine with messages sent through movies as well, but don't want to be preached to.
lol! Just kidding Jeff. The wife and I saw Titanic twice at the theater and Avatar only once. I would agree with you about Titanic being better than Avatar but probably not True Lies even though that was a good Action flick.