Avatar stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana back for three sequels
IS this the real reason Bingle's cutting Australia loose? Sam Worthington has officially signed on to film another three Avatar sequels in New Zealand.
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AVATAR stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana have signed on for three more sequels to the 2009 sci-fi hit.
The original James Cameron-directed blockbuster is the highest-grossing film of all time, reaping a massive $US2.7 billion worldwide at the box office.
There's no doubt the sequels will be money spinners too, but one has to wonder - with five years having passed since the original Avatar blitzed the box office, has 37-year-old Worthington signed on to play an action hero well into his dotage? Perhaps not, as Cameron has stated he has a speedier timeline in mind for the sequels: Avatar 2 will be out in December of 2016, with the other two films set to debut in 2017 and 2018.
Worthington and Saldana, who play US Marine Jake Sully and Na'vi woman Neytiri respectively, join actor Stephen Lang, one of the first to sign on for the upcoming sequels. Lang will reprise his role as the series' 'bad guy', Colonel Miles Quaritch.
In an official statement announcing the news, Cameron heaped praise upon his leading actors.
"Jake Sully is a rare combination of passion, strength, street smarts and soul, which requires a lot from an actor. Sam brought to the role a combination of sensitivity, vulnerability and strength. Zoe captured every aspect of the character I envisioned, bringing to Neytiri a mix of delicacy, fierceness and incredible physicality. I am beyond pleased they'll be returning with us to Pandora," he said.
Cameron says his vision for his three Avatar sequels is to create a family epic in the mould of The Godfather that will introduce viewers to new cultures and go underwater on his fictional moon Pandora.
"It's going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora," he said. "We're blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it."
The next three movies, which will cost about $NZ1 billion ($A932.27 million) to produce, will be filmed in New Zealand.
With Worthington's girlfriend Lara Bingle telling a Woman's Day photographer this week that she's had enough of living in Australia and wants to leave, could a move to New Zealand with her actor beau be on the cards?
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