Avatar 4 Gets Encouraging Production Update From Producer As Fire & Ash Hits Digital

Arriving two years after the emotional Avatar: The Way of Water ending, Avatar: Fire and Ash hit theaters in December, continuing the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family. Though it has been announced that a fourth and fifth movie will release in 2029 and 2031, respectively, Cameron has been open about the continuation of the saga not being a sure thing.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Tatiana Hullender for Avatar: Fire & Ash‘s home release on March 31, franchise executive producer Rae Sanchini reveals that the start of production on Avatar 4 may not be too far off. Sanchini stresses that work will have to get going on the fourth and fifth movies “pretty soon” because of the immense amount of prep required.

Sanchini’s Avatar 4 update, which comes ahead of the film’s 4K UHD and Blu-ray release on May 19, follows a question about whether Cameron could be starting work on his long-gestating Fantastic Voyage adaptation this year. Check out her full comment below:

It could be. [Fantastic Voyage has] been long in the works and we are moving forward and can’t announce anything, but we are in the works coming up in very early stages. That’s been kind of a dream project of ours for some time. And then the Avatar films are a very long lead time process, so we’re going to have to get started on those pretty soon as well. And then Jim’s got another few things that he’s always kicking around. Sure. A lot of original ideas.

Sanchini’s comment arrives following a promising update from Cameron at the Saturn Awards earlier in March. “To perfectly be clear, we haven’t even made a decision to move forward,” Cameron said. “But should I do that – which I will say is likely, but not 100% – we will definitely learn from the lessons of all three films.“

It should also be noted that Disney recently shared an updated release calendar, and Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are both still scheduled for 2029 and 2031, respectively. Avatar movies historically have long pre-production, production, and post-production processes, which has led to some doubt regarding whether these dates could actually be hit.

Avatar: Fire and Ash may not have repeated the success of The Way of Water, but it was still broadly a success for Disney, making it no surprise that the company wants to finish the saga. The third installment grossed $1.485 billion worldwide, comprising $404 million domestic and $1.081 billion from overseas.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the third film took a bit of a dip with critics and currently stands at a lukewarm 66%. Avatar: Fire and Ash reviews praised the film’s stunning visuals and exceptional action sequences, but the film did face some criticisms for feeling too similar to The Way of Water.

With audiences, however, the third adventure in the Sully family saga holds a much stronger 90%. These scores follow The Way of Water‘s 92% audience score and 76% critics’ score.

Many questions remain about the story for Avatar 4, but a large portion of the film’s first act has already been filmed, and it is expected to feature a significant time jump. Though Cameron himself hasn’t yet come out and confirmed his return to Pandora, Sanchini’s comment suggests it may just be a matter of time.