James Cameron Says ‘Avatar’ Sequels Will Be Shot Simultaneously

Fans wondering how James Cameron will have time to make a second and third “Avatar” film when the first one took him over a decade needn’t worry: Cameron himself says they’ll be shot simultaneously.

A short while ago, it was announced that the second and third installment in what had just become the “Avatar” franchise, would arrive in theaters December 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Now, Cameron is speaking about how he said release dates will be made possible, ScreenCrave reports. The film won’t shoot back to back, but simultaneously, which arguably makes everybody’s job all that much more complicated.

“I am in the process of writing the next two Avatar films now. We are planning to shoot them together and post them together, and we will probably release them not quite back to back, but about a year apart. Christmas ’14 and ’15 is the current plan,” the famous director shared, as cited by SC.

Of course, one of the most frequently asked questions about the remake is which stars from the original film will make the cut and reprise their roles in the sequels.

“Basically, if you survived the first film, you get to be in the second film, at least in some form,” Cameron stated. That is to say, Sigourney Weaver won’t be coming back after all, despite what she was saying a while back.

Then, there’s the issue of the money that the “Avatar” movies will make. The first one is currently the highest grossing release of all times, which means the following two will also be raking in the big bucks.

Still, Cameron says he’ll not put all that money in his own pocket – because he plans to use it to show that green is good.

“One thing’s for sure: some percentage of the presumably-massive Avatar sequel gross will go to charity,” the director shared in the same interview.

“Fox has partnered with me to donate a chunk of the profits to environmental causes that are at the heart of the Avatar world. I didn’t want to make more Avatar movies without a grander plan in place,” he added.