Seems to be official: James Cameron will direct AVATAR 2 and 3 for Fox

Woo Hoo!  I'll be first in line come 2014 and 2015.  As much as I am looking forward to Tron Legacy, I think Cameron is the only one who can truly deliver a 3D experience on the big screen.

Given that Peter Jackson is said to have gotten WB to pony up a budget of $670 million for his two upcoming 'Hobbit' movies.  I can only imagine how much coin Fox has committed for 'Avatar' 2 & 3, especially since Cameron will no doubt want to deliver something even more audacious than the previous movie.

What, Smellovision?

Static-O-Matic?

I wouldn't put it past him. 

Ron, I'll see your Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas and raise you a Battle for Terra.

I think there's a big difference between what Cameron can do versus what he will do.  Let's face it - he can do whatever the hell he wants and the studios will pay it.  However, he's already gone on record saying that a sizeable chunk of the first film's budget included the development of the technology used to create the film.

They don't have to reinvent the wheel for the second and third films, so there would be some economies of scale involved (he even said as much in an extensive interview he gave to the XM Cinemagic station last year).

Yes, one can expect the technologies to "evolve" slightly from the first film, but not to the degree that would warrant a budget increase of $100 million or more per film.

Besides, the "novelty" of what made Avatar so special will have worn off by 2014, so even though the sequels will make huge amounts of money, I can't see them matching the cultural pheonomenon that the first one became.

All that being said, IMO, when it comes to Cameron vs. Jackson, Cameron is without a doubt the director to whom I'd rather hand over my $335 million.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman 

I wouldn't put it past him. 

 

Ron, I'll see your Dances With Wolves and Pocahontas and raise you a Battle for Terra.

Yeah. All the themes in Avatar were in Battle for Terra first.  I actually think BfT did it better in a lot of respects. BfT was actually bigger in scope because of the themes of genocide and biocide on a planetary scale. One of the things that brought that film down was that the makers copped out with a happy ending. 

Edit: In order to be more on topic, I should add that it will be interesting to see if Cameron can actually come with something more original in the next two installments; however, I'd rather see him do something else before tackling the world of Pandora again.