Director James Cameron is working on two sequels for his 2009 blockbuster “Avatar” at the moment, writing them back-to-back and gearing up to dive back into the world of Pandora and the Na’vi soon enough. He recently stopped by ABC’s Nightline and dropped a few nuggets on what we can expect out of the next film.
“We will see the oceans of Pandora, which we haven’t seen at all,” he said. “That’s an ecosystem that I’m dying to start designing because it’s going to look spectacular. But also, again, now it narrows the spotlight instead of just nature in general or the rainforest. It focuses it a little more on ocean issues.
“Because we’ve got a planet that’s a blue planet. From a distance, you look at it, Earth is a lot more blue than it is brown (the landmass). We’re making the oceans unsurvivable for a lot of the species right now.”
He was quick, however, to note that he won’t be as “on the nose” with the environmental approach as he was with the first film. He admits he got away with some things there and that it would be a mistake to focus too heavily on that again. It has to be an entertainment first, he said.
Cameron also mentioned “there will be other planets as well. It’ll be a cornucopia. A treat for the eyes.” So it looks like the world of “Avatar” will spread out a bit from Pandora.
Say what you will about the original film, which took its knocks then and still does. The argument against the originality of its (obviously archetypal) screenplay never washed for me because the film was so much more than its simple (by necessity) structure and framework. It was a burst of imagination and I think a lot of people were just gunning for it, especially many in the hardcore sci-fi set who can be as pompous as the guys who beat them up in middle school. But I was swept away by the film and I very much look forward to further adventures in that world.
Check out the video interview with Cameron at ABC News.