A producer on Avatar: Fire and Ash said that the planned fourth and fifth films are "headed forward" more than three months after the latest sequel hit theaters
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Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are currently expected to hit theaters in 2029 and 2031
Avatar: Fire and Ash is available on digital now, with a physical release set for May 19
The planned fourth and fifth movies inJames Cameron'sAvatarfranchise are moving forward with preproduction, according to an executive producer who worked onAvatar: Fire and Ash.
Rae Sanchini, who is credited as an executive producer on the third movie in the franchise, toldInversein an article published on Wednesday, April 1 that the fourth and fifth movies Cameron, 71, has previously discussed remain in development. "Right now we're figuring out the schedule," Sanchini told the outlet. "We're working hard on it right now, budgeting, scheduling, planning, building out our new pipeline for them. As far as we're concerned, we're full speed ahead."
The fourth and fifth movies in theAvatarseries, which do not yet have titles, have been scheduled to hit theaters in 2029 and 2031. However, Sanchini described those release dates as "tentative" and that the production intends to finalize release dates for the movies "in the not too distant future."
She also told the outlet that Cameron's production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, is utilizing "a more generally accessible platform" to build theAvatarfranchise's state-of-the-art visual spectacle for the forthcoming sequels.
"We have the scripts, they're brilliant," Sanchini added. "As far as I'm concerned, we're heading forward."
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Fire and Ash, a sequel to 2022'sThe Way of Water,crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box officein January, just weeks after it initially released. The movie finished its box office run aftergrossing $1.48 million globally. (2009's originalAvatarandThe Way of Waterstand out as the top grossing movie ever and third highest-grossing film ever, respectively.)
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Cameron previously suggested that he and the other producers behind the franchise "need to figure out how to makeAvatarmovies more inexpensively in order to continue" in a January interview. When Cameron appeared for a press conference at the Saturn Awards on March 8, the filmmaker said that it's "likely, but not 100%" that he makes the two planned instalments, according toScreen Rant.
Fire and Ashstands out as thelongest installment in theAvatarseriesso far. The film picks up soon after the events ofThe Way of Waterand finds the Sully family reeling after the death of Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri's (Zoe Saldaña) eldest son, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), as series villain Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) renews his efforts to find and capture Jake.Oona Chaplinalso notably joined the franchise for the threequel as a Na'vi villain named Varang, who teams up with Quaritch.
Avatar: Fire and Ashis available on digital now, with a physical release set for May 19.
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