Toruk: The First Flight, a Cirque du Soleil show inspired by James Cameron’s Avatar – which is the highest grossing film of all time… for now – just premiered in Cirque’s hometown of Montreal. And in anticipation of the show, Cameron sat down with the Montreal Gazette to talk about it – and give out some new information on the planned series of three Avatar films that are currently in development.
Cameron confirmed that, with two years of pre-production now completed, the films will begin filming in New Zealand early next year, with all three films being shot simultaneously. “The writing is ongoing, but almost finished. Technical development is done. Stages are done. Infrastructure. So we’re really poised to start after the first of the year.”
They remain on target for the Christmas 2017 release date previously announced for the first in the series – which may explain why Episode VIII of Star Wars moved its 2017 release to the middle of the year – but digressed that “I don’t consider that (the release date of Avatar 2) to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart.” So take that with a grain of salt for now. But for now we can expect Christmas 2017, 2018 and 2019 releases for the anticipated follow-up.
Hinting at what we can expect from the arch of the trilogy, Cameron said, “I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies. Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story.”
You can watch the full interview over on the Montreal Gazette, and stay tuned to The Iris for more Avatar news in 2016.
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