James Cameron Says AVATAR 2, 3 & 4 a Go

Master of making everyone in the world give him money, James Cameron, has announced today that he will not only begin production on Avatar 2, but will simulataneously be filming a third and forth film, making all three sequels at once. While this kind of consecutive filmmaking is no novel approach, just look to Peter Jackson‘s Middle Earth saga, he’s really banking on the fact that people are gonna want to return to Pandora not one, not two but three more times.

While Cameron has a preternatural ability to judge what the public wants, this move is as ambitious as it is excessive. Per today’s press release, Cameron had the following to say:

“Building upon the world we created with Avatar has been a rare and incredibly rewarding experience. In writing the new films, I’ve come to realize that Avatar‘s world, story and characters have become even richer than I anticipated, and it became apparent that two films would not be enough to capture everything I wanted to put on screen. And to help me continue to expand this universe, I’m pleased to bring aboard Amanda, Rick, Shane and Josh — all writers I’ve long admired -­ to join me in completing the films screenplays.”

The four names Cameron refers to will all be aiding the admittedly lackluster writing from Cameron to flesh out this three-legged journey back to the CGI, 3D world. Josh Friedman has got sci-fi cred from Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and the popular, but early cancelled,Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver both worked on Rise of the Planets of the Apes while Shane Salerno wrote Armageddeon and Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem.

Avatar 2 is set to hit theaters December 2016, with each sequel following suit the following year. This gives Avatar 3 a December 2017 release and Avatar 4 a December 2018 date. WETA Digital, who is also responsible for the upcoming Hobbit sequels and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, will run the technical components of Cameron’s world.