Avatar 2 update: Filming to start in fall, release slated for 2018

Avatar sequel has already missed multiple deadlines. But now, things are looking up and it seems the film will meet its late 2018 release deadline.

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The script is finished now and Avatar 2 will begin the filming in the fall, actress Sigourney Weaver revealed to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday.  "We're starting!" the actress said. "We're starting training, and we're starting — hmm, I probably can't say anything. We will be actually shooting it by the fall."

Weaver added that the film is worth the wait. "I'm telling you, these scripts are so amazing, I'm not worried about [disappointing fans] at all," she said. "Am I worried about how we're going to bring them to life? Yes, because they're so ambitious. They're so worth it. They're well worth waiting for. I'm not worried about that at all. We're trying to get it done as quickly as possible."

The original film was released in 2009, and the first sequel was slated for 2014. However, the release date was pushed back by another two years for want of a finished script. But the production team failed to meet the deadline again.

"We haven't announced a firm release date. . . . What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases," director James Cameron told the Toronto Star a few months back.

"So we're not making Avatar 2. We're making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It's an epic undertaking. It's not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. So I know where I'm going to be for the next eight years of my life. It's not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we're making four. We're full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we'll be 24/7. We're pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It's pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we're going to draw that curtain when the time is right," he added.