James Cameron Officially Directing Avatar 2 & 3 For A Targeted December 2014 & 2015 Release

Considering that Avatar is currently the highest grossing movie of all time (taking in nearly $2.8 billion at the worldwide box office ), the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, it was always sooner rather than later that Twentieth Century Fox would come to an agreement with director and writer James Cameron to add to the magical world he created. And that’s exactly what has been announced today by Fox Film Entertainment Chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, who’ve made it official that James Cameron is set to direct Avatar 2 and 3 as his next films, with targeted releases for December 2014 and December 2015. Check out some excerpts from the press release below. You can read the full press release here.

Cameron, who had always viewed AVATAR as the creation of a new world and mythology, will begin work on the scripts early next year with an eye towards commencing production later in 2011. Cameron will decide if he will shoot the films back-to-back after he completes the scripts, but the release of the first, as yet untitled sequel, is targeted for December 2014, with the third film contemplated for a December 2015 release.

Commented Cameron: “It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. AVATAR was conceived as an epic work of fantasy – a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world. With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox. Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience’s expectations for the richness of AVATAR’s visual world and the power of the storytelling. In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of AVATAR’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I’m looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild.”