Sigourney Weaver, who claims she will be in the next two Avatar films, says veteran Hollywood director James Cameron may try to save money by shooting three films at once.
It’s rare enough to be confident enough in a film franchise that one is willing to shoot two films at once, much less three, but that’s what Weaver says Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, are planning to do.
The claim was made in an interview with Showbiz 411 about her staring role in a new ABC drama serial, Political Animals.
Perhaps Cameron can afford the arrogance, since the first film broke all box office records, despite being a poorly scripted film.
Indeed, Avatar rose to the top of the charts entirely on the power of its visuals – and a few decent performances.
Will audiences love Avatar just as much in a world where these kinds of visuals are no longer quite so spectacular? You never know, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Cameron has yet more spectacular visuals planned for each film.
Whatever Cameron intends, getting all the shots out of the way at one go will certainly save a lot of set-up cash. Since most of the films will heavily rely on CGI, “filming” them will consist primarily of establishing shots and mo-cap, followed by thousands of hours of digital editing, which Cameron should be able to do at his own pace.
No official production or release dates have been announced for any of the Avatar sequels, but primary photography may begin this fall.
