The deal between Cameron and 20th Century Fox was announced Wednesday. Cameron will direct the sequels, which will be his next two movie projects. Planned release dates for the tentatively titled Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are December 2014 and December 2015.

Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman called the Avatar sequels the studio’s highest priority.

“Avatar is not only the highest-grossing movie of all time, it created a universe based on the singular imagination and daring of James Cameron, who also has raised the consciousness of people worldwide to some of the greatest issues facing our planet,” Gianopulos and Rothman told Daily Variety. “We had no greater priority, and can feel no greater joy, than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the world of Avatar.”

The besieged world of Pandora, filled with exotic flora and fauna inspired at least in part by Cameron’s underwater adventures, proved a powerful draw from its unveiling at last year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. Cameron showed 20 minutes of Avatar to an enthusiastic crowd, and it was clear from that footage alone that he had dreamed up — and delivered on-screen — a deeply cohesive world for a cinematic franchise that could become his Star Wars.

The 2009 movie, a classic hero’s journey about a paralyzed vet who inhabits a synthetic blue body and fights alongside natives on Pandora, has earned nearly $2.8 billion so far, making it the all-time international box office champ. Perhaps more importantly, the movie’s incredibly immersive 3-D visuals set a new standard for cinematic excellence.

Avatar’s unbridled success fueled the current push to film in 3-D and convert classic movies like Star Wars for 3-D rerelease.

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See Also:

• James Cameron Talks About Avatar Rerelease, Sequels
• Review: Powerful Avatar Stuns the Eye, Seduces the Heart
• Avatar's Stunning Flora, Fauna Give Comic-Con an Eyeful

Authors: Lewis Wallace

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