Good news for fans of James Cameron's "Avatar": The director has just confirmed that the release date of the sequel for his fantasy drama will be two years from now.
"Christmas of '17 is the target," Cameron shared with the Montreal Gazette. "At least, that's what we've announced. But I don't consider that to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart. I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies. Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story."
There were a lot of kinks they had to iron out first before proceeding with the sequel, added Cameron, but he is glad that they have it all sorted out now.
"We have design more or less finished, which is an enormous task. It's been about a two-year task. (We've finished) all the creatures and the landscapes, and the new worlds within the world of Pandora that you see. The writing is ongoing, but almost finished. Technical development is done. Stages are done. Infrastructure. So we're really poised to start after the first of the year," he said.
While making the first film, Cameron was deeply inspired by the circus act "Cirque du Soleil." Now, the show is adapting Cameron's movie for their act.
"It's a closing loop now," said Cameron. "I was inspired by the Cirque du Soleil shows, with their celebration of human physicality, with their made-up culture, their made-up languages, that sense of a wondrous transport to a different world. It was very much in my mind when I was creating Avatar."
It was a big treat for Cameron to get to know the people behind "Cirque du Soleil" when he finished making "Avatar," and they started talking about possible projects they can come up with. It was not an easy to earn the trust of the people behind the circus because they have a certain disdain against Hollywood. However, they made an exception for Cameron because they like his work and vision.
In the end, they were able to create a cinematic experience called "Worlds Away."
"Then they came to me and said, 'We want to adapt Avatar to a show.' They weren't sure at that time if it was an arena show or a tent show. And I said, 'This is perfect. We absolutely should work together.' So now they've closed the loop," said Cameron.
