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AVATAR 2, 3, 4: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana cast, Year-End Production Start

Sam Worthington Zoe Saldana

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana reprising roles in Avatar Sequels. Sam Worthington will portray US Marine Jake Sully and Zoe Saldana will portray Na’vi Neytiri in James Cameron‘s Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4.

On the people behind the scenes of Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4:

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Cameron and Jon Landau will produce via Lightstorm Entertainment…Cameron is scripting Avatar 2 with Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), Avatar 3 with Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planets of the Apes), and Avatar 4 with Shane Salerno (Savages, Salinger).

WETA [is] running point on the sequels [and] it will streamline VFX continuity from film to film, especially given the introduction of new and different creatures and worlds.

On Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4‘s production and release schedule:

The currently untitled sequels will be filmed back to back with Avatar 2 set to release in December 2016. The subsequent sequels will follow in December 2017 and 2018, respectively. A start date is still TBA but Fox is eyeing December 2014/January 2015 to begin filming through March 2015. They have to give the actors four months of prep.

the plan is to shoot the films’ extensive motion capture scenes first, then film all the live-action footage. But a source with knowledge of the production says it’s ultimately up to Cameron to decide if that’s how they play it.

I have to say that all of this has got me very excited, especially with the people behind the scenes writing the scripts. I do not like the fact that they gave away that Jake and Neytiri survive until Avatar 4. I would have liked for that point to have been kept a secret.

The official press release for the Avatar sequels:

In the 2009 original, Worthington’s Jake Sully was a wounded former Marine confined to a wheelchair. His bravery and destiny help define a world he didn¹t even know existed. As Jake’s relationship deepened with Saldana’s Neytiri, a fearless and beautiful Na’vi huntress, he learned to respect the Na’vi way and finally took his place among them.

Commented James Cameron: “Jake Sully is rare combination of passion, strength, street smarts and soul, which requires a lot from an actor. Sam brought to the role a combination of sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. Zoë captured every aspect of the character I envisioned, bringing to Neytiri a mix of delicacy, fierceness and incredible physicality. I am beyond pleased they’ll be returning with us to Pandora.”

Last year, Cameron announced that not only is he moving forward with the most anticipated films of the next decade, but that the sequels had grown in number from two films to three.

Additionally, to help bring his expanding universe to life, Cameron hired screenwriters Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planets of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Savages, Salinger) to collaborate with him on the screenplays for the three films.

The as yet untitled Avatar sequels will be filmed back-to-back. The release of the first follow-up will be in December 2016, with the second to follow in December 2017, and the third a year later.

Cameron and Jon Landau through Lightstorm Entertainment will produce Avatar 2, 3, and 4 for Twentieth Century Fox.

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Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in nearly $2.8 billion in worldwide box office. It is also the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time. Avatar won Golden Globe awards for Best Motion Picture and Best Director; and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won Oscars for art direction, visual effects and cinematography.

Avatar was written by Cameron from an idea he nurtured for over a decade, while working on the technology necessary to realize its wholly imagined world. Working with Joe Letteri and his team at Peter Jackson’s WETA Digital, Cameron created a fully immersive 3D cinematic experience of a new kind, where revolutionary technology that was invented to make the film disappeared into the emotion of the characters and the epic nature of the story.

The three Avatar sequels will mark Cameron’s latest collaborations with Twentieth Century Fox, a relationship that spans 27 years and marks one of the most successful filmmaker-studio alliances in motion picture history. Cameron and Fox first joined forces in 1985 for Aliens, which became a sci-fi classic. Next came The Abyss, which revolutionized visual effects technology; and True Lies, a blockbuster starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1996, Fox green lighted Cameron’s Titanic, which became the most successful film in history, and won a record-breaking eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Leave your thoughts on Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana‘s casting in Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4 below in the comments section. For more Avatar sequel photos, videos, and information, visit our Avatar Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, and “like” us on Facebook.

Source: Deadline

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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