INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Avatar 2’ Still Stars Sigourney Weaver, Even Though Her Character From Original ‘Avatar’ Is Dead

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:39 PST, Jan 25, 2016

Avatar 2 is happening. Fans of the first Avatar movie, which was released seven years ago, have wondered if and when they were getting a sequel.

Now it seems that there will be not just one sequel, but three. Morning News USA reports that Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4 will be released in 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. All three movies will be filmed back-to-back and the script for Avatar 2 is currently being written.

Fortunately, Sigourney Weaver will still be a part of the new movies. In the original Avatar movie, her character dies at the end, so she is being given a new and exciting character to play.

James Cameron, writer and director of the movies, revealed his plans for Weaver on the Avatar website.

“Sigourney and I have a long creative history, dating back to 1985 when we made Aliens. We’re good friends who’ve always worked well together, so it just feels right that she’s coming back for the Avatar sequels. Her character of Grace Augustine, as fans know, died in the first movie, so she’s playing a different and in many ways more challenging character in the upcoming films. We’re both looking forward to this new creative challenge, the latest chapter in our long and continuing collaboration.”

The original release date for Avatar 2 was December, 2016, but there was a delay in production and the release date had been moved to December, 2017. Cameron has essentially said that nothing is carved in stone.

“At least that’s what we’ve announced. But I don’t consider that to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart. I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies. Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story.”

And it seems that the release date wasn’t set in stone, because now there are reports that it will be delayed again. The Wrap reports that Avatar 2 will now not have a Christmas 2017 release date, although on Thursday Twentieth Century Fox would not comment on what was causing the delay. News of the second delay on the release of the movie is already hitting Twitter.

Some are attributing the delay in Avatar 2‘s release to the shift in the Star Wars VIII release date. Star Wars VIII was originally slated to be released in May, 2017, but now has a December 15, 2017, release date. Star Wars producers are likely confident they will be able to rule the season, which suggests that Avatar 2 is out of the December, 2017, picture.

Scott Mendelson, a contributor to Forbes, reports that if the movies were to go head-to-head, Avatar 2 could give Star Wars VIII a run for its money. While Star Wars: The Force Awakens has taken the record in the U.S., at $925 million, Avatar still holds the overseas record of $2 billion. Star Wars overseas box office sales have been $1.3 billion, and it is beginning to wind down. Mendelson writes that if the two movies to open in December of 2017, then Avatar 2 would most likely show Star Wars VIII up in the overseas market.

“But if a head-to-head showdown does happen at the end of 2017, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Star Wars dominate in America while Avatar kicks a little bit more butt overseas. So in that sense, they both win.”

Regardless of when it is released, there is no doubt that Avatar 2 will be a smash hit at the box office in both the U.S. and overseas.

[Composite image containing photos by Bryan Bedder, Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images]

Share this article: ‘Avatar 2’ Still Stars Sigourney Weaver, Even Though Her Character From Original ‘Avatar’ Is Dead
avatar james cameron Sigourney Weaver
More from Inquisitr