LOS ANGELES -- An Avatar sequel in 2016 turned out to be unobtainable.
James Cameron told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he's delaying the release of the first of three Avatar sequels, which will be shot simultaneously and released in three consecutive years, to 2017.
The reason: Writing is hard.
"There's a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don't get when you're making a standalone film," Cameron told the AP during an interview in New Zealand, where the first Avatar was shot. The director added that he hopes to have all three scripts done by the end of January, and wants them to function as a whole, while also being satisfying individually.
With $2.8 billion in worldwide box office grosses, Avatar still stands as the biggest film release of all time. 20th Century Fox, which just set the record for global box office by a studio in 2014, will probably set another when Avatar gets rolling again.