Titanic and Terminator director James Cameron said he’s “looking at some new technologies” to try and get Avatar 4 and 5 made “in half the time for two-thirds of the cost,” but it’s going to take a year just to figure it out.
The legendary filmmaker spoke about how he plans to continue his long-in-the-works sci-fi saga during an interview with The Empire Film Podcast. When asked what’s next for Cameron following the premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash and his Billie Eilish concert movie, he told The Empire Film Podcast he’s hoping to alter his process to, hopefully “more efficiently,” dive back into Pandora.
“You know, I’ll be doing some writing. I’ve got a number of projects that I’m cooking,” he said. “And Avatar 4 and 5 are still floating out there. We’re going to be looking at some new technologies to try to do them more efficiently. Because they’re hideously expensive and take a long time. I want to do them in half the time for two-thirds of the cost. That’s my metric.”
Cameron added that it’s going to “take us a year or so” to even come up with a plan on how to more efficiently create Avatar movies going forward. In the meantime, he promised that he’ll be “writing and doing a couple of other things.”
Avatar first took audiences to Pandora with the launch of the original film in 2009, but its sequel, The Way of Water, wouldn’t arrive until an incredible 13 years later in 2022. The three-year wait between Avatar 2 and its Fire and Ash follow-up was comparatively far less painful, but even that timeframe feels a bit on the long side for the 71-year-old director.
While it’s true that all three Avatar movies have managed to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office, Fire and Ash only made $1.48 billion compared to The Way of Water’s $2.4 billion, suggesting potentially declining interest amongst moviegoers. Adding to the sting is the last film’s reported $400 million budget, which doesn’t account for the hundreds of millions Disney would have spent on its marketing campaign.
Avatar: Fire & Ash Concept Art
Despite Cameron’s hope to eventually bring the Sully family back to theaters, how exactly Avatar 4 and 5 will take shape is unclear, for now. We have yet to see what “new technologies” the Avatar director and writer plans to explore, but he’s made it clear that he’s hoping to produce the films for cheaper in the past. A report from last month suggested as much, too, though it appeared much was still moving behind the scenes at Disney.
Disney has currently scheduled tentative release dates of December 21, 2029, for Avatar 4 and December 19, 2031, for Avatar 5. A recent update from producer Rae Sanchini promised that scripts are in hand as the team continues to move “full speed ahead.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
