James Cameron is one hell of a filmmaker and has been blowing our minds with his exceptional talents for as long as we can remember. From The Terminator to True Lies, and Titanic, Cameron does deserve all of the accolades he has received for churning out some of the most evergreen films in Hollywood’s history. Cameron’s next big project after Titanic was Avatar, a film that took about a decade to make, and for the perfectionist that he is when it did come out, it was well worth the wait. In addition to introducing to us a new star in Aussie hunk Sam Worthington, Avatar smashed to smithereens box office records that took years to beat. The epic science fiction film grossed over $2.8 billion at the global box office making it the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassing Cameron’s Titanic which previously held the title. It took ten years before Avengers: Endgame beat that record, but with Avatar 2’s release date drawing nearer by the day, the Marvel comic film could be kissing that position goodbye. Here is everything you need to know about the Avatar sequel and why it has taken an awfully long time to hit our screens.
Avatar 2 Cast Members and Characters
Sam Worthington’s role as Jake Sully in the first Avatar film no doubt was the Hollywood breakthrough that the Australian actor had long desired after making a name for himself with his role in 2004’s Somersault which earned him his nation’s highest film award. It appears that Avatar’s makers want to make more stars out of its franchise by casting 7 young faces all of whom are set to appear in the first sequel. The kids (pictured above) include Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans Jr., and Jack Champion. Why so many kids? Well, the plot of the sequel follows Sully as a family man with kids, but that doesn’t mean that these aliens love to make multiple babies, Sully’s would just be three, they are Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, and Trinity Bliss.
Additionally, Zoe Saldana would reprise the role of the Na’vi princess Neytiri. The characters that Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang (he was the villain) played in the first film both died but reports are that they would both be featured in the first sequel. CCH Pounder would also return as the Queen’s mother Moat.
Other new faces in the sequel would include Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones fans would remember her for her role as Talisa Maegyr), New Zealand’s Cliff Curtis who played Travis Manawa in Fear the Walking Dead, and Edie Falco would be portraying one of the new characters that have been revealed as General Ardmore. That’s not all, big names like Kate Winslet and Vin Diesel would also grace the Avatar franchise with their presence.
Avatar 2 Release Date: When Is It Coming Out?
Fans are eager while critics are itchy to put their reviews on the sequel of Avatar, however, its brainchild James Cameron could care less about the film’s release date. All the film genius wants is that whenever the sequels do come out (a whopping four sequels are in the works) they would do so in close succession and thus he’s focused on getting everything ready almost at once rather than having a lengthy gap between them – this is basically Cameron’s reason for unavoidably delaying the widely anticipated Avatar 2.
The first time the release date was set, it was for December 2014, but that did not happen. It was pushed further to December 2016 after Cameron announced an increase in its sequels from three to four, the subsequent releases were slated for 2017 and 2018 but the world didn’t see that happen. Then came 2017 and Cameron broke our hearts further by pushing Avatar 2 further to December 2017, this time, he did give what seemed like a valid reason by stating that the writing process which was “very involved” was the primary reason for the postponement.
With the date of December 2017, filming was slated to begin in August of 2017 against the initial April 2016 filming date for the December 2016 release date, but again, 2017 came and went and Avatar 2 was still missing from our cinemas. It was assumed at the time that Cameron’s reason for further delaying the release was the fact that Star Wars Episode 8 (later released as Star Wars: The Last Jedi) was also slated to be released on December 2017.
However, before 2017, Cameron had in 2016 made it known that he was not much bothered about the release date of Avatar 2 as long as the subsequent sequels would follow in close successions. In one of his interviews with CNN about the prolonged delay, Cameron pointed out that the 7-year gaps between both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Alien and Aliens didn’t mar their performances.
The date was further pushed to December 2020, and as of this writing, the official date has been set on December 17, 2021. Finger-crossed that Cameron can keep to his word this time and that the film when it finally comes out would be worth the wait by beating all expectations.
