Producer Jon Landau Clears Up Some 'Avatar 2' Rumors

James Cameron's Avatar 2 doesn't come out until December 2014 but the news is already starting to trickle out. It's going to be a long four years. We've already heard about how Cameron is trying to develop some new technologies for the film, that the story might go off Pandora and there will be water sequences. Producer Jon Landau, who worked on both Titanic and Avatar with Cameron, has now added some context to that info about the sequels. He talks about a possible link between the second and third films, and provides updates on some other Cameron projects.Empire Magazine talked to Landau and he commented on how the seas are going to factor into the film, whether or not the film will go off of Pandora and if Avatar 2 will end with a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Avatar 3, which is scheduled for release in December 2015.

First, here's what he had to say about the water worlds in the movie.

Water will be a part of the movie, but it won't be all of the movie. There's been a lot of rumors that it's an underwater movie – it's not. Just like the Floating Mountains, and the Na'vi's interaction with the mountains, were a part of Avatar, it'll be the same type of thing.

Cameron has also said that Pandora is just one of several moons in a system and that he might be exploring some of those. Well, not in the second film, says Landau.

I think the next movie will stay on Pandora. That'd be my guess. Not all the answers are there yet, but I think we're happy with Pandora.

Finally, since both Avatar 2 and 3 are scheduled to be coming out in subsequent years, Empire asked if the two films will be linked with a cliffhanger such as the Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Matrix, Back to the Future and Star Wars movies.

The next [film] will kick off where the next last one ended, but, just like Avatar resolved itself and doesn't feel like a set-up to another movie, you don't want Avatar 2 to feel like a set up for 3.

First of all, Avatar does feel like the set up to another movie. It ends with a character's eyes opening. Still, I'm surprised by Landau's statement. It seems like – with only a year between films – a huge cliffhanger would be natural. However, it's admirable that they're hoping each film is self-contained because, honestly, when a film does exist strictly for an awesome cliffhanger, sometimes the journey to get there feels a little pointless. Lost did that a lot.

Landau also talked about some other Cameron projects. He said Cameron was still interested in Cleopatra (though when would he have the time?) and that both Battle Angel and The Dive might still happen, but are both "further-out projects."

Neither one has that shooting script yet and both are really worthy projects to make.

We've got plenty of time to start discussing Avatar 2, but we might as well start now. What do you think about the film staying on Pandora, not having a cliffhanger and only touching on the water?