James Cameron Says His 'Fantastic Voyage' Remake At 20th Century Is Going Ahead "Very Soon"

James Cameron Says His ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Remake At 20th Century Is Going Ahead “Very Soon”

Before James Cameron got locked in for a heap of “Avatar” sequel films, he was trying to put together a remake of the 1966 body horror/sci-fi film “The Fantastic Voyage with producing partner Jon Landau, where he was originally planning to direct himself at 20th Century Fox and those reins would shift over to his pal Guillermo del Toro with a planned shoot in Toronto. Things fell apart, and everyone moved on to other things, suggesting “Fantastic Voyage” was thrown into limbo during the studio’s merger with Disney. There are now teases from Cameron that the remake is not only getting resurrected under Disney/20th Century Studios but could be happening in the near future.

Cameron has shared a brief update during a Q&A session at a new exhibition of his production artwork (Cameron is also an accomplished artist in his own right and goes back to his production design days) at Paris’ Cinematheque Française (via Variety), where he said their long-gestating remake of the 1966 film is about to go forward “very soon.”

“We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon,” Cameron said at the Paris event. “Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie.”

In order to save a scientist who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into Benes’ body. They have a finite period of time to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off.

However, he didn’t exactly clarify who would be directing and if del Toro would still be involved as he’s busy shooting a “Frankenstein” adaptation for Netflix that stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Lars Mikkelsen, Felix Kammerer, and David Bradley. Guillermo is also expected to follow-up with his stop-motion animation movie The Buried Giant at the streamer too.

Cameron moving out of the way for an ambitious project to get made isn’t a new thing, as “Alita: Battle Angel” was a similar situation, where Robert Rodriguez was selected to complete Cameron’s vision for the cyberpunk anime/manga adaptation, and while being a massive creative force on “Terminator: Dark Fate” tapped Tim Miller (Deadpool”) to direct. Hypothetically, Cameron could decide to make it himself, but given his responsibility of completing “Avatar 3” and “Avatar 4,” with the studio’s schedule, it seems unlikely.

SOURCE: VARIETY

‘Predator 6’: Dan Trachtenberg Reportedly Directing New Installment Called ‘Badlands’ With Future Setting & Another Female Lead

Prey” seemed like a big success for both 20th Century Studios and director Dan Trachtenberg as they attempted to infuse new blood into the “Predator” franchise after Shane Black‘s “The Predator” seemed to feel like they were running on fumes. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that a second film from Trachtenberg and the sixth franchise installment is indeed on the way under the working title of “Badlands.”

While details are scarce they are quick to point out that the film isn’t a direct sequel to “Prey” (Set in 1719) but will continue the last film’s angle of using a female protagonist and is said to jump into the future, which seems like a cue to the studio’s “Alien” franchise. This should give “Predator” fans hope that the franchise might start pushing toward the comic book and video game incarnations of the “Alien vs Predator,” where the hunters would bump into humans trying to colonize planets that happened to be gaming preserves.

How far into the future remains to be seen and if this will be another Earthbound adventure.

Patrick Aison (“Prey”) wrote the screenplay for “Badlands” with Trachtenberg working with Aison on the story. The report also mentions that more “Predator” projects are in the works that involve Trachtenberg, without dishing on exact details of what that means. Perhaps, we could end up getting a streaming series on Hulu/Disney+ not unlike what is happening with the “Alien” prequel show that hails from Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”), but that is just an early assumption on our part.

UPDATE: Deadline adds in their version of the story that while it’s only in early development, “Prey 2” is still in the works and that Midthunder is expected to reprise the Naru role in it.

Rumors had pegged that a “Predator 6” would be a direct sequel to “Prey” with actress Amber Midthunder returning after a cliffhanger ending that teased the alien hunters’ return and potentially inducting Naru into one of the clans. Mirroring other humans that have joined Predator clans after proving themselves to be great warriors, similar to Machiko Noguchi (A character from the “AVP” comics). Given this reported time-jump there is nothing stopping them from bringing back Midthunder to play an ancestor of Naru, depending on the actual setting of the film as there is a good chance with a “future setting” they could move forward enough into this universe where there are off-world colonies (“Alien: Romulus” will feature a colony of humans fighting off a Xenomorph).

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that we’ll eventually get “Prey 2” but sounds like “Badlands” might be moving the franchise in a different direction. Perhaps, the ultimate goal is to lead directly in a futuristic off-world crossover between the “Alien” and “Predator” universes after the lackluster attempts with less-than-impressive “AVP” movies that took place in a contemporary Earthbound setting (Yawn, boring).

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Fede Alvarez Shares Producer Ridley Scott’s Reaction To His Director’s Cut Of ‘Alien: Romulus’: “It’s Fucking Great”

If you weren’t already aware, 20th Century Studios and Disney are looking to reenergize the “Alien” franchise with not only a brand new mystery film called “Alien: Romulus” from director Fede Alvarez (“Evil Dead”) but also Noah Hawley (“Fargo”) behind an Earthbound streaming series at FX/Hulu as well that takes place before the events of the original film. It looks like things are chugging along with Fede’s film as he recently completed a director’s cut or potentially an assembly cut of the film.

Guillermo del Toro spoke with the filmmaker at The Directors Guild of America’s Latino Summit 2023 where he revealed the pressure-cooker moment when franchise producer Ridley Scott sat in a room alone to watch the director’s cut before anyone else and shared his promising impressions with Alvarez.

“I finished the director’s cut a week ago and go through the incredibly intense process of sending it Ridley Scott, who is my producer. He’s the producer of the movie. I wanted him to see it before anybody and everybody gave me the heads up that ‘Ridley’s really tough and particularly if you have something to do with his movie.’ He was really tough on ‘Blade Runner,’ which I saw as a masterpiece…He walks into the room and he did say ‘Fede what I can say? It’s fucking great.’ My family knows it was the best moments of my life to have a master like him, which I admire so much, even to watch a movie I made. The best compliment he gave was ‘The dialogue is great, you’re the writer?'”

The young cast assembled for the sci-fi horror pic includes Caliee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson, Aileen Wu, and Spike Fearn. While the film is in the post-production stage we still haven’t got our hands on an official plot synopsis for the new “Alien” film other than previous hints that it could involve an off-world colony facility

Alvarez isn’t understating Scott’s hyper-critical persona. Director Neill Blomkamp’s takeaway from his experience developing “Alien 5” only for it to go away was that Scott had likely soured on him after watching “Chappie” and potentially had the movie killed. Although, it sounds like Alvarez’s experience was very much different with his new “Alien” installment.

Interestingly enough, ILM is working on the film’s visual effects alongside Weta Workshop, which is said to be working on weapons and vehicles. The Gillis team returning to do creature effects as well.

Thankfully for fans, the sequel will be heading to theaters on August 16, 2024, after it had been previously set to become another Hulu exclusive like their well-done “Predator” prequel, “Prey.” Given that they have a director’s cut this early less than a year away from release there is some hope the studio could start releasing first-look images and even a teaser trailer in the near future.

You can watch the full conversation between del Toro and Alvarez right here.

SOURCE: DGA LATINO SUMMIT 2023

‘The Creator’: Director Gareth Edwards Describes His Futuristic A.I. Action Film As A Mix Between ‘Blade Runner’ & ‘Apocalypse Now’

It has been a moment since filmmaker Gareth Edwards tackled an original project after helping to launch the lucrative Monsterverse franchise for Legendary with his “Godzilla” reboot and helped usher in the modern era of “Star Wars” thanks to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The last film Edwards worked on his own thing was “Monsters” back in 2010. Well, he’s coming back with a vengeance in his upcoming film “The Creator,” which he compares to a Vietnam War film with a glossy sci-fi paint-job.

During a recent Q&A (See videos below) session where they showcased some new IMAX footage from the film, the director explained to Deadline how the film’s lead, John David Washington, first met with Gareth and had to come clean about being a massive “Star Wars” fan even to the point he was mulling over not wearing his “Star Wars” mask to the pandemic-era meeting as not to offend but said it “wouldn’t be true to himself” as he had been wearing that mask consistently in that time.

He also talked about the other lead of the film. Madeleine Yuna Voyles is the youngster that was cast in the role of Alfie, the new artificial intelligence “threat” that Joshua aims to protect from human hands and Edwards explains how he came around to filling that key role. He was a bit worried that during her audition the actor was being too well prepped before doing an emotional scene that made them all cry, but ultimately ended up doing it again and realizing that she was indeed the actor they needed to play Alfie.

“I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t found the right kid, we got really lucky but the version of this movie where we didn’t find Madeleine…I’m glad I live in the universe where that happened. I hate movies with little kids because they can be so annoying, that was my biggest fear making this movie…so it’s the biggest relief when she’s beyond her years it’s like she’s reincarnated or something,” Edwards said of discovering his co-lead that would make or break his movie.

The film focuses on the military threat of A.I. after it started dropping bombs and while the film’s setting is 2070, Edwards jokingly thinks he might have gone too far into the future.

“I have a trick with A.I. is to get the timing as a sweet spot window where it’s before the apocalypse and not after, which I think is in November — maybe December — and so, I think we got really lucky. The joke would be that when you write a film, especially a science fiction film, I try to avoid putting a date … at some point, you have to so, I picked 2070. Now I feel like an idiot because I should’ve gone for 2023 ’cause everything that’s been unfolding in the last few months is kind of scary and weird.”

It’s also a war movie where Edwards describes the pic as a mix between Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” and Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War pic “Apocolypse Now,” the latter is fitting since they shot on location in Vietnam. One of “80 locations” Edwards claims to have been used in the making of the film.

I have to gush a little bit about the potential of “The Creator.” Honestly, we don’t often see an original film of this scale get major backing from a major studio like 20th Century Studios/Disney after being originally developed at New Regency. I can’t express how important it is for original blockbusters to wiggle their way into the marketplace this didn’t used to be as uncommon as it is now in the era of cinematic universes/reboots. I don’t know how studios expect to get to the next “Star Wars” or “Avatar” without taking risks with original projects from visionary directors and screenwriters.

It also doesn’t hurt that there is some “Dune” and “Star Wars” lineage mixed in here with Hans Zimmer composing the film’s score and Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser having contributed to the film’s visuals as well.

As much as still enjoy the work of director Neill Blomkamp (“The Creator” certainly feels like it shares DNA with his work) after becoming such a creative voice within the sci-fi genre with “District 9,” “Elysium,” and to a lesser extent his visually brilliant pic “Chappie” (I still think most of the production design on the film is top-tier). It feels like he sort of has fizzled out after attaching himself to high-profile franchise sequels like “Alien 5” and “RoboCop Returns” potentially getting drained creatively trying to work within a frustrating studio system while developing his own video game and shooting a bunch of various short films on his own dime. However, he recently ended up with his first number one at the box office in a long time with his sports drama “Gran Turismo.”Rooting for more genre-focused material from Blomkamp, but I’m still grateful that folks like Edwards can pick up the slack and that studios like New Regency are still willing to make such fantastic-looking sci-fi that isn’t based on existing material when other studios/executives repelled by spending big bucks on original ideas (“The Creator” is said to have cost something in the neighborhood of $86 million).

We’ve already seen this summer what audience-friendly originals can look like at the box office with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” out-earning “Inception” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (Not a sequel/reboot/remake) inching closer to becoming Warners’ highest-grossing film. It’s worth mentioning that 20th Century is indeed investing more than expected on various IP-focused sci-fi projects such as new feature film installments in both the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises in the shadow of something as massive as the “Avatar” films.

Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.

“The Creator” will be heading to theaters on September 29 and you can watch a neat featurette about the sci-fi pic below.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Christopher Nolan Praises David Fincher’s Critically-Panned Debut ‘Alien 3’ As “Great” & “Remarkable”

I think we’re all extremely fascinated by filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”) and knowing what films he enjoys is very much going to be something hardcore fans are going to over-analyze given how much he openly homages cinematic benchmarks. In the past, Nolan has spoken out about his love for the “Fast & Furious” franchise, specifically “Tokyo Drift.” More recently he said both Stanley Kurbick’s sci-fi masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Adam McKay’s sports comedy “Tallagada Nights” were movies he’d always stop to watch if he saw them playing on television.

Another perplexing but still interesting selection was briefly praised by Nolan during his interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast (See below). The subject of trailers came up along with Ridley Scott’s original 1979 “Alien” being referenced and host Josh Horowitz was quick to mention how the original teaser for David Fincher‘s “Alien 3” got ahead of what they were actually doing it teased an Earthbound setting that never happened.

Nolan would go on to say the following about the third installment, “And you know, Fincher has famously talked about how unhappy he was with it and how it changed. I think it’s a great movie but I think his work on that is remarkable.”

David Fincher and Sigourney Weaver on the set of “Alien 3” – 20th Century Studios/Disney

Of course, it wasn’t just Fincher unhappy with the producers/20th Century Fox’s everchanging ideas before, during, and in the final version. “Alien 3” was both a critical and financial failure, with the brass throwing the first-time feature director under the bus instead of self-reflection for all their micromanaging and narrative mistakes. You could forgive Fincher for trying to speak on the subject for the better half of 30 years.

Given the commercial success of the first two films, it was seen as a franchise low-point until “Alien Resurrection” ultimately became the final nail in the coffin despite three separate attempts to get an “Alien 5” going with Sigourney Weaver. Since 1992, a lot of sci-fi fans have warmed up to the film for its fantastic production design and painstaking attempt to honor that universe overseen by the evil corporation Weyland-Yuanti. Although, the movie does have some glaring issues like the mixed performances of the supporting cast and extremely wonky visual effects of the Xenomorph.

We already know Nolan’s affinity for both the James Bond movies and “Star Wars,” but it’s certainly interesting to hear him talk about the “Alien” franchise. While under Disney’s new ownership, there is an Earthbouth streaming series at FX/Hulu currently filming in Thailand and theatrical film on the horizon. I don’t think many fans would be terribly upset if Nolan eventually tried to tell a story within that universe, at some point, but hasn’t suggested there is any pressing desire to do so.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

‘Alien: Romulus’ Enlists Cinematographer Galo Olivares For Latest Installment In The Sci-Fi Horror Franchise

The Ronin can confirm that the upcoming Alien movie from filmmaker Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead, The Girl In The Spider’s Web) has hired cinematographer Galo Olivares for the next installment of the franchise. It’s been reported that actress Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising) in the lead role, although, further details have been scarce or where in the Alien timeline the pic will take place or if we’ll be seeing any established characters show up.

Olivares previously worked on Gretel & Hansel along with being part of the camera team on the Oscar-winning drama Roma from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

This next Alien film will certainly be an interesting experiment for 20th Century Studios, as it’ll be the first film in the franchise specifically being made as streaming exclusive for Hulu (not unlike Prey). We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Disney/20th Century will have the common sense to actually give the project a theatrical run, even if it’s only a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: Apparently, listed on IMDB the film’s production designer is said to be Naaman Marshall (Mortal Kombat, Knock At The Cabin), who previously worked on the sci-fi horror film Underwater (See trailer below) starring Kristen Stewart that seemingly took direct inspiration from films like Alien and Leviathan. However, we’re unable to confirm this new tidbit but certainly exciting as Marshall’s work on Underwater was stunning. This wouldn’t be the first time working with Álvarez as Marshall was the production designer on 2016’s Don’t Breathe, which shares the same screenwriters of Romulus.

Álvarez helming the film was a bit of surprise given that current franchise producer Ridley Scott has long been trying to get a third prequel film, Alien: Awakening, off the ground as a follow-up to Alien: Covenant. At the end of that film, we saw David (Michael Fassbender) now in control of the ship along with the colonists that could be used for his xenomorph experiments. Daniels (Katherine Waterston) and Tennessee (Danny McBride) had survived their horrific ordeal as they’ve been placed back into hyper-sleep. However, it remains to be seen if we’ll ever see that third project come to fruition as Scott is getting ready to shoot his Gladiator sequel starring Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal (Aftersun) over the summer and will likely have more film projects to focus on beyond that as the filmmaker is very busy.

We’re still waiting on more casting information for the film alongside when we’re expected to see Alien: Romulus drop on Hulu.

‘Friday The 13th’ Screenwriter Winning Domestic Rights A Preview Of ‘Predator’ Lawsuit?

Hollywood is looking at a bunch of various copyright lawsuits, one of the most notable ones is focused on Friday The 13th with the film’s producer and writer fighting in court claiming rights to the franchise.

Today, it was announced via The Hollywood Reporter that Friday The 13th screenwriter Victor Miller has won an appeal to secure the domestic rights to the horror franchise from producer Sean Cunningham.

On Thursday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a win for him in a copyright termination battle. As a result, he’s set to reclaim the domestic rights to the franchise.

Cunningham had claimed Miller’s script was work for hire, which was refuted by a federal judge back in 2018.

It’s a big win for Marc Toberoff, who is representing other screenwriters trying to get the rights/copyright to their material.

The original killer in the 1980 film was Pamela Voorhees, the mother of Jason, who had drowned at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the camp staff. At the end of the film, an undead Jason leaps from the water and became the staple killer for the franchise moving on.

Crystal Lake’s history of murder doesn’t deter counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced young people — Jack (Kevin Bacon), Alice (Adrienne King), Bill (Harry Crosby), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor) and Ned (Mark Nelson) — pay little heed to the old-timers. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they’re slashed, shot and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless opponent.

Attorney Marc Toberoff, is also representing John and Jim Thomas with their own attempt to get the rights to their 1987 script that was turned into the Predator franchise. One of the handful of keystone IP properties at 20th Century Studios that Disney inherited when they purchased 21st Century Fox.

There is a possibility that this appeals win for Victor Miller, might lead to the Thomas Brothers also getting participation with the domestic rights to Predator. However, we’ll have to see how things shape-up in the courtroom, as each one of these copyright cases aren’t apples-to-apples.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘Predator 5’ Officially Wraps Filming With Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers & Dane Diliegro Confirmed For Roles

It’s officially a wrap on Predator 5! Cinematographer Jeff Cutter reveals on Instagram that the film has finished production after spending the summer filming in Calgary, Alberta.

He also confirmed three actors for the film two of which The Ronin previously mentioned were involved with the new Predator film. They Include Amber Midthunder (Legion), Dakota Beavers, and Dane Diliergo.

UPDATE: Kyle Strauts, who we first revealed in May would be back in the predator role after appearing in Shane Black’s The Predator has also confirmed his role in the pic.

The new pic directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg will follow a group of Indigenous humans, the assumption has been this will be the first film in the Predator franchise taking place before the events of the original and will be a period film.

Filming kicked off back on June 10.

Predator 5’s production team consists of the aforementioned cinematographer Jeff Cutter (10 Cloverfield Lane), production designer Kara Lindstrom (Den of Thieves), and stunt coordinator Steven McMichael (Damnation).

Predator 5 isn’t the only project from the Alien/Predator franchise in the works has Ridley Scott has been teasing a third Alien prequel era film is on the table at 20th Century Studios and Scott is producing an Earthbound Alien series from Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) at FX.

It’ll be curious to see if Trachtenberg’s film will be a one-off or connect to future installments or a series.

Disney hasn’t announced a release date but trades had been speculation it would land a spot in the Summer of 2022.

However, Predator 5 is a co-production between 20th Century Studios and Hulu, which means it could skip a traditional theatrical release to become a Hulu exclusive.

PREDATOR – Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a soldier of fortune, is hired by the U.S. government to secretly rescue a group of politicians trapped in Guatemala. But when Dutch and his team, which includes weapons expert Blain (Jesse Ventura) and CIA agent George (Carl Weathers), land in Central America, something is gravely wrong. After finding a string of dead bodies, the crew discovers they are being hunted by a brutal creature with superhuman strength and the ability to disappear into its surroundings.

SOURCE: JEFF CUTTER

‘Alien 5’: Neill Blomkamp Suggests Ridley Scott’s Reaction To ‘Chappie’ May Have Led To Cold Feet

While director Neill Blomkamp was able to convince both actress Sigourney Weaver and Aliens director James Cameron (called the film’s outline/idea “gangbusters”) about his pitch for Alien 5, but it sounds like Ridley Scott was ultimately the harder sell and may have ultimately led to the project’s death.

During a recent interview with The Playlist, Blomkamp suggested that Ridley Scott was possibly behind his exit from the sci-fi sequel.

“At the end of the day even though Ridley Scott is producing it, he brought that to the world, so if he changes his mind or if there is a director on it he doesn’t want, whatever it may be, it’s his. I understand that, it makes logical sense to me.”

Blomkamp further alluded to The Guardian that Alien 5 producer Ridley Scott (current gatekeeper of the Alien franchise) potentially watched Chappie and that may have behind Scott changing his mind about letting Blomkamp direct Alien 5 (a project Ridley Scott tried to make 20 years ago).

“It’s possible that Ridley watched Chappie and he was like, this guy can’t do Alien so let’s just go ahead and move on.”

When asked if he’d return to the franchise anytime in the future he declined that as a possibility and quickly debunked online rumblings that Alien 5 was back on track with his involvement.

“Not after, no no no, there’s no coming back from that. I’m not gonna work on a film for two years and have the rug pulled out from underneath me and then go hang out and have beers. It’s exactly why I don’t want to do IP based on other people’s stuff ever again.”

“I’m sure they will make many films with that piece of IP, it just doesn’t include me.”

It’s worth noting that as soon as Alien 5 got nixed by Scott/20th Century Fox, they quickly moved forward with Scott’s Alien: Covenant. There is a good chance that Scott saw Alien 5 as a competing film to Covenant and decided to curb-stomp it (considering his high status at the studio). There were some similarities between the two films with multiple androids as revealed in concept artwork (one good and one bad), and we wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Covenant lifted other elements from Alien 5.

Chappie was both a critical and box office disaster for Blomkamp. The sci-fi movie had multiple oddball choices including giving large roles to non-actors Die Antwoord (rapper pals of Blomkamp), who played awful characters that were on par with Hugh Jackman’s villain but were supposed to be “likable.” It certainly had less to say than the social commentary infused into the story as Blomkamp’s prior two movies District 9 and Elysium, feeling like more of “this would be cool if we did this” exercise.

With District 10 in development and other Elysium films on table, I don’t think we can say that the director has any interest in Chappie follow-ups anytime soon.

CHAPPIE – In the near future, a mechanized police force patrols the streets and deals with lawbreakers — but now, the people are fighting back. When one police droid is stolen and given new programming, he acquires the ability to feel and think for himself. While the robot, dubbed “Chappie (Sharlto Copley),” puzzles out human behavior, the authorities begin to see him as a danger to mankind and order; they will stop at nothing to ensure that Chappie is the last of his kind.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN & THE PLAYLIST

Stephen Lang Says “Beautiful” ‘Avatar 5’ Script Left Him “Weeping”

According to James Cameron and producer Jon Landau, principal photography has wrapped on Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 (both motion-capture and live-action portions), but there are two more films to be made with their attention moving on to Avatar 4 an Avatar 5.

One of the unanswered questions of these four upcoming sequels is how they’ll be bringing back Stephen Lang’s villainous Colonel Miles Quaritch, as he died in the original movie. However, they have the ability of to clone Na’vi bodies, aka, avatars and there is assumption that Quaritch could simply be a clone or RDA having multiple versions Quaritch all over their off-world operations.

Lang recently spoke to Collider while promoting his horror film Breathe 2 and dished about his reaction to reading the Avatar 5 script (a bulk of the scripts were written before filming on Avatar 2 started). Highlighting his emotional reaction and calling it “beautiful” multiple times.

“When I finished the last script, I was weeping. I just thought it was so beautiful. Yeah, the final script, because he’s telling a great, great story, an original story, a beautiful, beautiful story, and I was just incredibly moved by it. I hope and I trust and believe that audiences will be too, because one of the things that he does really, really well is he moves it from the page to the stage in a way that that is very literal. You know what I mean? You really see it. What you read is what you get from him, I think, and more.”

Even more interesting than Quaritch’s resurrection, is how the dynamic will look like with Edie Falco’s (Sopranos) General Ardmore joining the franchise as the new head of RDA operations on Pandora and how compelling that new villain will be.

Baring any other delays, Avatar 2 will be released on December 22, 2022.

SOURCE: COLLIDER