The Mouse House has bought the licensing rights from Fox and plans to build out an attraction for their parks. An official announcement is expected shortly.
The “Avatar” experience – plans call for more than a single ride – will be built at Animal Kingdom, the newest of the four major theme parks that make up Disney World in Orlando, Fla., according to these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Disney did not authorize them to speak publicly.
James Cameron, the director of that science-fiction film, will collaborate with Disney on the attraction.
Levy will direct the remake of the 1966 action adventure about a crew of scientists who miniaturize themselves and voyage into a colleague’s body to save his life.
We have a story crisis. They want to make the Battleship game into a film… This is pure desperation. Everyone in Hollywood knows how important it is that a film is a brand before it hit theaters. If a brand has been around, Harry Potter for example, or Spider-Man, you are light years ahead. And there lies the problem. Because unfortunately these franchises are becoming more ridiculous. Battleship. This degrades the cinema.
James Cameron has locked in a deal with Fox to make Avatar 2 and 3, due in theaters December 2014 and December 2015 respectively.
Said the director in a statement, “It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. AVATAR was conceived as an epic work of fantasy – a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world. With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox. Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience’s expectations for the richness of AVATAR’s visual world and the power of the storytelling. In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of AVATAR’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I’m looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild.”
The sequels will be produced by Cameron and Jon Landau for Lightstorm Entertainment.
Here’s hoping these are more like Empire Strikes Back and less like The Matrix sequels. Also they should spread out the releases of two and three.
Hope you’re free during the first half of 2012 because you’re going to be seeing a lot of 3D rereleases. (Okay just two, but still).
James Cameron has been talking about rereleasing Titanic in a post converted 3D for years now, and it looks like it might finally happen in 2012 (that is, if the world doesn’t end before then).
Cameron has previously stated that Fox is targeting Spring 2012 release for the 3D version, to coincide with the “100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.” The Los Angeles Times confirms this, stating that the director is currently “converting the blockbuster into 3-D for re-release in April 2012, the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking. ”
Hope we’re not sick of 3D by April ‘12.
