James Cameron has probably done just enough to ensure that his Avatar franchise will continue with its proposed plan to release Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 in 2029 and 2030, respectively. However, with Avatar: Fire and Ash set to end its theatrical run well behind the box offices of its predecessors, there is a big question about how Cameron can please Disney bosses and continue the Avatar franchise without blowing his budget.
Speaking to Taiwan’s TVBS News, Cameron shared an update on plans for the next Avatar movies, including the return of Michelle Yeoh, and his thoughts on those pesky budget concerns.
“Michelle [Yeoh] is definitely going to be in 4, if we make 4. Here’s the thing: the movie industry is depressed right now. Avatar 3 cost a lot of money. We have to do well in order to continue. We have to do well, and we need to figure out how to make Avatar movies more inexpensively in order to continue.
“If we continue and we do 4, we also do 4 and 5 together. So we made 2 and 3 together, one big story. And then 4 and 5 is another big story. And Michelle will be in 4 and 5. And she will play a performance capture character. Her character name is Paktu’eylat. She will be a Na’vi.”
Could ‘Avatar’ Cost-Cutting Lead James Cameron to Back AI?
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There have been some conflicting comments and reports about James Cameron and his feelings about the ever-advancing use of AI in Hollywood. Speaking to ComicBook last year, Cameron said:
“I’m not negative about generative AI. I just wanted to point out we don’t use it on the Avatar films. We honor and celebrate actors. We don’t replace actors. That’s going to find its level. I think Hollywood will be self-policing on that. We’ll find our way through that. But we can only find our way through it as artists if we exist. So it’s the existential threat from big AI that worries me more than all that stuff.”
However, Cameron is also known for pushing the boundaries of technology, embracing forward-thinking, and always looking to use every tool available to him to make the movies he wants to make. While it seems unlikely that Cameron will be using AI to replace any of his on-screen visuals or actors, the director did cause a stir in 2024 when he joined the board of directors of AI company StabilityAI. At the time of taking the position, Cameron said that he had spent his career “seeking out emerging technologies that push the very boundaries of what’s possible, all in the service of telling incredible stories. The intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave.”
For many, it would be the beginning of the end for Hollywood if one of the industry’s most successful filmmakers really started dabbling in AI. With the use of generative AI on social media leading everyone to question everything as to what is real and what is not becoming harder to tell, the next couple of years are going to decide how the AI story plays out.