-Avatar 4 Released Date & Reviews-
Avatar 4
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Film Information-
Director- James Cameron
Writer- James Cameron Shane Salerno
Studio- Lightstorm Entertainment
Distributor- 20th Century Fox
Release Date- December 18, 2026[1]
Language- English
Preceded by- Avatar 3
Followed by- Avatar 5
Avatar 4 is one of four planned sequels to the 2009 film Avatar. It is set to be released on December 18, 2026.
James Cameron has said that if Avatar: The Way of Water underperforms at the box office, he would still make Avatar 3, but not Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.[2]
In January 2019, Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger said that Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are being developed but haven't been officially greenlit by Disney.[3] Some filming has already been done in case The Way of Water and 3 are successful, however.
On May 7, 2019, Avatar 4 and 5 were mentioned as part of Disney-Fox's theatrical release date, planned for December 19, 2025 and December 17, 2027, respectively.[4] On July 23, 2020, James Cameron announced that all Avatar sequels are delayed by one year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] The new release date for Avatar 4 and 5 is December 18, 2026 and December 22, 2028.[1]
It is intended that the plot be able to stand alone, though it will form part of a meta-narrative that extends from Avatar 2 to 5.[6]
Title
James Cameron has already hinted that no sequel will actually have a number in the title, as Jake Sully is no longer an Avatar at the end of the first film; "Avatar 4" is most likely just a temporary title. A November 2018 BBC article claimed that the title would be The Tulkun Rider.[7][8] Cameron later clarified in a February 2018 ET interview that the title was one of many under consideration and the sequel titles hadn't been finalized at that time.[9]
Production
During initial interviews on the film in 2012, Cameron commented that it may be a prequel rather than a sequel. However; all interviews since then have referred to it as a sequel; the prequel is likely a separate project. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana have signed for a further three films.[10] In October 2013, Sam Worthington confirmed that the three sequels would be shot back to back starting in fall 2014.[11]
On October 6, 2022, it was announced that the first act of Avatar 4 filming was completed.[12]
Writing and delays
Shane Salerno was announced as the film's screenwriter in August 2013.[13] Scriptwriting continued up through at least May 2015. According to an interview with James Horner, who was then tapped for the soundtrack, Cameron had inadvertently written four sequels' worth of material by that point, which needed whittling down to three. However, a fourth sequel was announced in 2017, with the release dates for the movies continuing to be delayed.
In September 2017, James Cameron stated that, as part of the back-to-back shooting of all four Avatar sequels, production on Avatar 4 and 5 would start after the release of Avatar 3. Both Avatar 4 and 5 are intended to be shot together and put through post-production sequentially, in a similar fashion to Avatar 2 and 3.[14]
Effects of Disney-Fox acquisition
Some doubt was cast over the project during the Disney-Fox merger in 2018 and early 2019, when Disney stated that 4 & 5 were no longer greenlit, and would depend on the financial performance of 2 & 3. This however changed with the release of Disney's 2020-2027 slate in May 2019, which placed the movie at a fresh release date in December 2025.
Performance Capture
According to Jon Landau during a February 2019 interview with Collider, some performance capture for Avatar 4 has already been completed during the performance capture filming of Avatar 2 & 3.[15] This was further emphasized by Landau in another February 2019 interview with the LA Times, with the performance capture done for Avatar 2, 3, and parts of 4 described as "principal capture".[16]