James Cameron says Avatar 2018 release “is not happening”

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

In 2009 AVATAR blew up the world with its massive, shocking, still-can’t-believe-it’s-not-butter success. But now all fans want are the sequels – all four of them in fact. The first was supposed to hit next year after nearly a decade since the first. But, as it turns out, James Cameron and co. are probably just gonna go for the full 10 years. *Gasp!* *Wilt!* *Faint!* Just kidding. I faked all those over-the-top emotions, because we all knew this was coming.

Sitting down with The Star to talk about Cameron’s upcoming Discovery channel documentary, ATLANTIS RISING, the director admitted that the proposed 2018 date probably isn’t going to work out, citing that you can’t look at it as waiting for one movie, but on four instead:

“Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. (Laughs) So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7. We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right.

The push comes after Cameron said all the sequels would be shooting in one big production, and AVATAR 2 was being eyed for December 2018. This also comes one year after Cameron pushed back the date from a release this year. So, in a year, expect to see this again.

This news should come as a shocker to no one, as Cameron is notorious for pushing back releases so he can get everything just right, putting all other perfectionists to shame. The bummer comes in the form of no other planned release in its place. Basically we just have to keep waiting, and like an asteroid, waiting for something this long could go on for years and years. As long as the movies are great I don’t care. Cameron has made people wait for greatness before, and what they’re doing here does sound incredible. However, my desire to go on an interstellar adventure is wearing thin.

Catch Cameron's documentary this Sunday on Discovery.