James Cameron inched closer to committing to Avatar 2 at a world media event for the Blu Ray release of an extended Avatar. “Our plan is to make 2 and 3 together as a single large production and release them a year apart,” Cameron said. “It’s in progress right now. There’s a lot of writing, a lot of designing and there’s a lot of tech work that we’re going to do.”

Hasn’t he invented everything already? He should be able to just crank out more Na’Vi, but of course Cameron wants to push things further. If he’s going to make two movies together, that could take five years. He wants to anticipate technological advances five years out, so that Avatar 3 still looks fresh when it’s released.

More after the jump…

“In order to do that, we have to refine our technical processes beyond the end of where we were finishin Avatar 1 a year ago. We need to future proof ourselves out five or six years to the end up the third film if you will. So we’re taking that time now. Partially because going through the process, even though we refined that process as the film went along, there were certain things we would have had to go full stop to be able to improve and upgrade. We’re in that process right now.”

That’s where Cleopatra comes in. Sony wants Cameron to do their historical epic with Angelina Jolie. Could he squeeze that in while his techies are building him new Pandora trees?

“I haven’t made any decisions about that. Here’s a decision. I’m not going to work on a film between 2 and 3. It’s really just a question of whether I do one between now and when we start 2. We’re still evaluating how much of our tech work, how much of our facility work, how long it’s going to take. So that’s not decided as of right now. I’d love to just start on Avatar 2 right now but I don’t know if that’s possible to do or if it makes sense to wait.”

Cameron also discussed bringing his feature True Lies to the small screen. Personally, the news of a True Lies TV series seemed like the best idea since "Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles." I love James Cameron’s ultimate Arnold movie, and TV seems like the way to bring it back. You’re not going to get Arnold and Jamie Lee back, and 16 years later, would you want to? But hire some hot new talent and do the future missions of Boris and Doris. 

Alas, like the Terminator sequels, James Cameron’s not going back. “I’m not really doing that,” Cameron revealed during a press conference for the extended Blu Ray edition of Avatar. “That was initiated by others, friends of mine who wanted to do that. I said, ‘Yes, go with God, do True Lies but do I have to show up to do anything?’ They said, ‘Absolutely not.’”

Cameron actually wrote a script for True Lies 2 back when Arnold was still an actor and there was no need for a PATRIOT Act. After 9/11 happened, Cameron said he had no interest in a domestic comedy about terrorists. I still do though, but the new producers won’t have any access to Cameron’s rejected sequel ideas.

“[I wrote] a number of sequel scripts but I honestly don’t know. I have nothing to do with it, so if it’s great you heard it here, I had nothing to do with it. If it sucks, I had nothing to do with it.”
 

This marks Cameron’s second foray into the world of television. In 2000, he produced the Fox series "Dark Angel," which only lasted two seasons, but still managed to introduce the world to the wonders of Jessica Alba’s 19-year-old ass. Here’s hoping that Cameron’s latest effort has as profound an impact on our society.