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Trilogies are so 20th century. Quadrilogies are the new movie model, at least to James Cameron.
We already knew that Cameron was working on two sequels to the biggest movie of all time but today we get more confirmation that the visionary director is working on three follow-ups to Avatar.
Showbiz 411 reports that Sigourney Weaver is working with Cameron on Avatar 2, 3, and 4 (even though her character seemingly died in the original).
When Political Animals finishes shooting, see if you can follow Weaver’s schedule: she goes right into a new Christopher Durang play for a short run at the Lincoln Center. Then she films Avatar 2, 3, and 4 with James Cameron. That’s right: they’re making three sequels to the blue 3D phenom all at the same time.
This echoes what Cameron told the New York Times in an article earlier this year.
more about Avatar 4 >> Posted 06.26.12 by Chris -
Sigourney Weaver recently revealed that her Avatar character Grace "will be back" for Avatar 2, just as she intimated last December. There could be a surprising revelation or two in this post for anyone that has yet to see Avatar, and if you are among those four or five people, we're sorry to have spoiled it for you.
As for how Weaver will return for a sequel, Vulture talked to James Cameron about how he could bring back a deceased character, to which Cameron responded with his usual sarcasm: "Have you ever heard of nonlinear storytelling?"
what did cameron say? >> Posted 10.12.11 by Ryan -
For those that saw Avatar, it would seem impossible for Sigourney Weaver to return for a sequel, but Weaver has been adamant that her character, Grace, wasn't quite as dead as previously believed. Last December, Weaver intimated that Grace could return, while Weaver recently confirmed to ComingSoon that she "will be back" for Avatar 2.
Don't worry, I will be back. Jim [Cameron] says no one ever dies in science fiction. He's told me the stories for the next two movies and I have to say that they're absolutely wonderful and there's a real treat in store. Now we just have to make them.
Weaver doesn't want to to do Ghostbusters III without Bill Murray >> Posted 09.19.11 by Ryan -
Sigourney Weaver has a varied career, starring in sci-fi franchises like Alien and Avatar and comedy franchises like Ghostbusters. All three franchises are continuing with either sequels or prequels in the works.
The validity of Ghostbusters 3, however, has been called into question of late, with Bill Murray calling talk of the sequel "a bunch of crock" and criticizing the potential script from The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Fellow Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd countered, explaining that the writers "wrote Bill the comic role of a lifetime." Throughout this, Weaver has remained an advocate of the sequel, and recently told ShockTillYouDrop that she has been contacted by franchise director Ivan Reitman about participating in the sequel.
Yes, I got a call from Ivan Reitman. I think everyone who's involved would love to get together again. I think everyone's working on really trying to create a wonderful original story. I just said, "That would be fun and please make sure my little son Oscar grows up to be a Ghostbuster." And he said, "Absolutely." Then I think he directed this other film and is busy editing it, so it kind of got put on hold. But I would be surprised if we didn't do it.
could weaver return for avatar 2? >> Posted 10.18.10 by Ryan -
Avatar's promised Pandorapedia still hasn't been released to the general public, but French TV has Sigourney Weaver giving what looks like a pretty comprehensive introduction to life on the alien moon — perhaps for tourists or an Animal Planet special.
We get familiar footage of the thanator super-predators and the pterodactyl-like banshees, but also glimpses of some of the other flora and fauna. These range from the apparently inoffensive bio-luminescent wood-sprites to the dire horse, not to mention the Leonopterix, which is a flying creature even higher up on the food chain than the banshees.
A final interesting factoid: All of the major critters on Pandora, both on land and in the air, are hexapods, i.e. they have six limbs. Why? 'Cause it's an alien world, that's why. In any case, the visuals, as always, are worth checking out.
Posted 12.06.09 by reelz -
The clips from Avatar just keep on coming. While most of what we have seen up to this point features the blue-skinned aliens or the arsenal of weapons and machines the humans brought to Pandora, this new footage offers a less flashy look at the conflicts and bad conscience that have sprung up among the colonists over the way they are exploiting the planet.
Here we have Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) as a research scientist venting her disaffection with the more machine-gun aspects of the hearts and minds campaign, and getting set straight by an amoral corporate flack Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), who points her back in the direction of of the bottom line. Along the way we get some backstory about all the company has done to "civilize" the natives.
Posted 12.04.09 by reelz -
A bunch of scans from Empire's cover story on Avatar have popped up on line (via MarketSaw). They offer (among other things) a first look at Sigourney Weaver as a blue-skinned alien hybrid.
After the trailer debuted last week, there had been some complaints that Sam Worthington's avatar didn't look enough like him. You can check out some stills of him from the magazine and decide for yourself. For Weaver though, the resemblance is not really in question, as is evident in side-by-side photos of her as human and alien. They also show off one more cool aspect of inhabiting an avatar: You get to be younger.
You can also check out a couple of close-ups of Zoe Saldana as a Na'vi. No side-by-side comparisons though, since the character she plays is an alien native, not a human-Na'vi hybrid. And for those who just can't get enough, there is a second batch of photos as well, including a nice group shot in the jungles of Pandora.
Posted 08.27.09 by reelz -
In James Cameron's Avatar, Sigourney Weaver plays Dr. Grace Augustine, a veteran botanist who mentors the protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), during his introduction to the alien moon Pandora. Like Sully and all the other humans, she has to inhabit an avatar, i.e. a human-alien hybrid, in order to survive the deadly environment they encounter there.
Weaver explained in an interview with IESB that getting into her avatar was more than just a matter of changing her look:
One of the fun things about my character is that she's so unhealthy. She's so driven. She never sleeps. She chain smokes. She doesn't eat. When she's on Pandora, she has this light, young body, and she can jump from tree to tree. She's free. She has no aches or pains. One of the things that I worked on was the impact of coming back into your human body, when it's not in great shape. That's something that Jim and I discussed, coming out of the link, having been such a free and physical spirit, and then going back to your body, which is falling apart. That was very humbling, each time. Grace was very aware that she was running out of time.
The contrast turns out to be even more overwhelming for Sully, who is paralyzed in his human form, and is eventually confronted with a choice that may mean abandoning his avatar forever.
Posted 08.05.09 by reelz -
Despite having appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, actress Sigourney Weaver has become forever linked with Ellen Ripley, her character from the Alien series, and because of this has herself become an icon of tough, resourceful woman in cinema. Weaver returns to science fiction this December in James Cameron's long-awaited return to feature filmmaking, Avatar, a 3-D smorgasbord of alien landscapes and fantastic creatures.
During the Avatar panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Weaver said that a lot of the credit for her career and for her portrayal of Dr. Augustine, a botanist studying xeno-plant life on the far-off world of Pandora, can be attributed to the strong women who inspired her in her youth:
... to wonderful women teachers in my school who devoted their lives to trying to help us (women) feel like we could do science. And one of the things that moved me most about Dr. Augustine was that Jim (Cameron) created this brilliant woman scientist who had thrown everything over to study the flora and fauna of Pandora and to understand the Navi way of life.
And, for me, it was such a treat just to even begin studying the plant life. It was very meaningful to me — I never did that well in science, but I was always so eager to learn it, and I feel I got a second chance.
Avatar was written and directed by Cameron and also stars Sam Worthington, Michelle Rodriguez, Zoe Saldana, and Giovanni Ribisi.
Posted 08.04.09 by BrentJS -
Despite being four years in the making, there has been scant little information released about the film that marks director James Cameron's long-awaited return to feature films. Until now...
Cameron personally introduced Avatar to approximately 6,000 fans in Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con. Cameron likened himself to the fans in the audience, saying:
I figure this is a place where I can speak from the heart because, you know, I feel like I'm one of you guys. I make movies because I love movies, because I'm a fan of fantasy and science fiction and other worlds.
He said that he was always a dreamer, even as a kid.
I grew up in a little town in Canada called Chippewa. Population was about a sixth of the number of people in this room right now. And, you know, even though my body was trapped in Chippewa, my mind was roaming the galaxy thanks to Bradbury and Clark, Sturgeon, Heinlein, and shows like Star Trek. Yes, the first two seasons. And, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
These are the things that blew my mind when I was a kid, when I was that 14-year-old boy riding a school bus, reading a book a day, science fiction book a day. So, this film, really, after a hiatus of doing deep-ocean exploration for seven years, coming back to feature filmmaking, this film has been made for that 14-year-old boy that's still very alive and well in the back of my mind.
So, I know I share with you that love of fantasy and science fiction and other worlds.
However, Camero said that he didn't want to tell any more about the movie or the story so that he could "hold back something for the fun of the voyage." Before leaving the stage he asked:
How many of you have ever wanted to go to another planet? Second question: Are you ready to go to Pandora?
After thunderous applause, the lights went down and the crowd was treated to nearly 25 minutes of fully actualized 3-D footage of Avatar. All of the major characters were introduced, as well as a number of bizarre creatures and environments on the planet Pandora. In a word, the footage was "incredible."
Cameron returned to the stage after the footage was aired and introduced the producer, Jon Landau, and cast members Zoë Saldaña, Stephen Lange, and Sigourney Weaver, who said, "This is the movie you've been waiting for."
As a final announcement, Cameron declared August 21st "Avatar Day" and said that a "global audience" will be afforded a free screening of 15 minutes of Avatar at IMAX and 3-D theaters around the world.
Posted 07.24.09 by BrentJS