So there are reports today that Jon Landau has announced that the release date for Avatar 2 is going to be 2016 rather than the previously-announced 2014 date with by a third instalment in 2015. The thing is, when we asked him just the other day, he denied that delay.
At the event we attended, Landau made an offhand remark about **Avatar 2 **being "four years out" - so we followed up to check, since that's not in line with the previously announced plans. Would it be four more years, and therefore 2016? Or the dates we'd heard before? He replied, "It's in that window, '14, '15."
Now this isn't to say that the second film won't be more like 2015 than 2014, given that - as far as we know - there's no completed script yet for performance-capture to begin, James Cameron's currently working on other things (including the **Titanic 3D **release in April) and the films are hugely effects-heavy which will necessitate enormous amounts of digital production work. One might reasonably speculate that Landau, like many of us, is still thinking of 2011 when he thinks of the date, and is currently envisaging a 2015 release date for the second film, something that would explain both his first remark and his clarification.
But to say that Landau is now talking about a 2016 release for the second film is simply not warranted at the moment, so let's just bear that in mind, eh? It may still happen - but that's not what he's saying at this stage.
To keep you going in the meantime, **Titanic 3D **will hit screens on April 6, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship and 15 years after the film's original release. From the converted scenes we've seen, it's going to be the best post-conversion you've ever laid eyes on.