The Avatar cinematic universe is expanding even further, with four sequels now in the works!

James Cameron announced at CinemaCon this week that there would be four Avatar sequels instead of the previously announced three.

"We have decided to embark on a truly massive cinematic process," he said, adding that three sequels simply wasn't enough to tell the full story. "We began to bump up against the limitations for our art form."

Cameron, who also directed 2008's Avatar (which remains the highest grossing movie of all time), said that he's been working with four major screenwriters over the past few years, "to design the world of 'Avatar' going forward: The characters, the creatures, the environment, the new cultures."

Even if the magic of Pandora captured people's attention in a major way in the first Avatar, he suggested that the sequels will even further impress.

"So far, the art I'm seeing, is in pure imagination, really far beyond the first film," he said. "It's going to be a true epic saga."

Ultimately, Cameron said that "together, we're going to continue to make this industry the greatest show on earth. That's what we do."

Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5 will be released in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Avatar 2 was pushed back from its release date of December 2017, with a tentative but unofficial plan for a 2018 release at the earliest. In its December 2017 place, Disney is releasing Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Original Avatar stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver are all expected to return for the sequels.

"We do performance capture work. You have to think of it more like an animated film, so it's not really shooting per se. It's a lot of performance capture work, so yeah, we're getting into that," Cameron told The Associated Press recently, when asked how the sequel filming is going.

Beyond this he is keeping everything under lock and key, stating: "It's top secret. Remember The Manhattan Project, did they talk about that?"

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Avatar 2, Movies