'Avatar' Sequel Won't Happen in 2018

James Cameron's vision for his Avatar franchise seems to get more complicated every day, and its complexity is leading to ever-increasing delays in actually getting the movies into theaters. Last week, we got news that the long-awaited sequel to the blockbuster sci-fi hit won't be released next year like we assumed it would be.

There had been no official release date for the first of four planned Avatar sequels, but the movie's studio had dropped hints that the sequel could be done in time for a December 2018 release. Last week, Cameron told The Toronto Star that that's not going to happen.

"We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases," Cameron explained. "So, we’re not making ‘Avatar 2,’ we’re making ‘Avatar 2,’ ‘3,’ ‘4,’ and ‘5.’ It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam."

Cameron and 20th Century Fox are investing a huge amount of time and money in the franchise, gambling on the hope that moviegoers will still remember Avatar well enough to make a multiple-film roll-out profitable more than a decade after the release of the original film.

That seems a risky bet, given that the cutting-edge CGI that gave 2009's Avatar its ground-breaking -- and audience-attracting -- visual style is now commonplace. It remains to be seen whether the film's plot and characters are substantial enough to enthrall a new generation of moviegoers.