James Cameron has confirmed that long delayed filming on Avatar 2 will now finally be starting because he has now finished writing the script for Avatar 5. Cameron had initially promised fans a trilogy before insisting he needed to take four films to finish his increasingly epic saga. Now adding a 5^th installment the visionary director has confirmed insanely ambitious plans to film all of the sequels in one go…

“The thing is, my focus isn’t on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That’s exactly how I’m approaching it. They’ve all been developed equally. I’ve just finished the script to Avatar 5. I’m now starting the process of active prep. I’ll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I’m booked in production every day between now and then.”

While studios increasingly do combine filming on major franchises to minimize costs and maximize cast availability it’s safe to say that Cameron’s plans to film four sequels at once are entirely unprecedented. Though many may question how sensible it is to gamble on the success of a franchise to such an extent in truth there may be some logic in Cameron’s madness.

While Avatar was a painfully long developed breakthrough in special effects that took over a decade to produce, given the massive strides in CGI over that past 8 year since the release of Avatar the actual costs of filming motion capture have decreased exponentially. By doing all the motion capture and vocal work for all his planned sequels at once Cameron effectively sets himself up to churn out his massive saga at relatively low cost later, having taken full advantage of the studios enthusiasm for what today remains one of the highest grossing films of all time.