James Cameron Compares 'Avatar' Sequels To 'The Godfather' As A Generational Family Saga

James Cameron is currently busy in production on the four planned Avatar sequels that will start hitting theaters in December of 2020. But he had enough spare time to take part in a new documentary series called AMC Visionaries: James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction, coming to AMC on April 30. Cameron sat down with some press to discuss the series, but of course the conversation turned to progress on the Avatar sequels, and the filmmaker made quite the bold comparison.

Without getting too specific, Cameron calls the forthcoming Avatar sequels a "generational family saga" akin to The Godfather trilogy. Find out what the director had to say below.

Entertainment Weekly was on hand with several other outlets to hear what Cameron had to say about crafting Avatar sequels like The Godfather. While that comparison may seem a little presumptuous because The Godfather is one of the greatest stories of all time, Cameron is specifically talking about how the franchise spans across several generations of the same family. The filmmaker said:

"I found myself as a father of five, starting to think about what would an Avatar story be like if it was a family drama, if it was The Godfather. Obviously very different genre, very different genre, but I got intrigued by that idea. So, that's really what it is. It's a generational family saga. And that's very different from the first film. Now, it's the same type of setting, and there's the same respect for the shock of the new, that we want to show you things that not only you haven't seen, but haven't imagined. I think that's absolutely critical to it. But the story's very different."

The story of the Avatar sequels is the only thing keeping me vaguely interested in seeing how these movies turn out. The first Avatar had a story that plenty realized was merely Dances with Wolves meets Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest set on a planet with a conflict between humans and aliens. While the visuals were stunning, the story left plenty to be desired. But now that James Cameron has this world established, he can hopefully expand into more groundbreaking territory. Cameron gives some details on how the story will continue with the new young characters coming to the forefront of the saga without getting too specific:

"It's a continuation of the same characters, but what happen when warriors that are willing to go on suicide charges, and leap off cliffs on to the back of big orange toruks, what happens when they grow up and have their own kids? It becomes a very different story. Now the kids are the risk-takers and the change-makers. So, it's interesting, but it makes sense to me. Everybody's either a parent, or they had parents at the very least, and if you look at the big successful franchises now, they're pretty much uninterested in that."

Seeing how the family of Jake and Neytiri grows could prove to be something captivating, but it all depends on what it is that calls them into action and creates family drama between them. Will it be compelling enough to warrant four more sequels? We won't find out for over two and a half years, but we'll certainly be interested to hear more as we get closer to the release date.

Avatar 2 is supposed to arrive on December 18, 2020.