I know, I know. You’re probably asking the same question: Why?

Ask James Cameron.

20th Century Fox and the director revealed today that Cameron’s box office blockbuster Avatar will get 3 (THREE) sequels!

Screenwriters Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planets of the Apes), and Shane Salerno (Savages, Salinger) have been hired to pen the screenplays for all 3 films, which will be shot simultaneously with production starting next year, aiming for releases in December 2016, December 2017, and the third a year later.

Cameron will produce with his Lighthouse Entertainment partner Jon Landau.

The first Avatar is still the highest grossing film at the domestic and worldwide box office, having earned more than $760 million domestically and $2.7 billion worldwide.

It was a film we debated heavily on the old S&A site. 

In short, some of us felt that James Cameron could have made the alternate choice in his fictional story and “allowed” the Na’vi the fortitude to fight AND win, completely absent of the presence of a “helper” from the other side (in the form of the white Jake Sully-type character we’ve seen in several previous similar films).

Surely, within the Na’vi tribe, there could have existed a leader capable of inspiring and rallying the troops to victory, just as Sully did; Surely “The One” could have come from within, instead of from outside. However, we get a similar, if not trite meme – the transformed white male hero/savior.

It’s as if white male filmmakers need a face and voice they can readily identify with within films of this nature, so much that they can’t possibly fathom scenarios in which the indigenous people could actually be capable of fighting and winning completely WITHOUT the help of a conflicted outsider.

Many felt that the film only further reinforces the notion of white supremacy, when one looks critically at the film’s content.

Of course, some of us disagreed with that entire argument, and thus, we all debated over it!

So who’s up for 3 more adventures in the land of the Na’vi, assuming that’s where all 3 will be set? There were reports a few years ago that said Cameron was planning on taking the action OFF Pandora for what was then supposed to just be one sequel.

Well, it should mean Zoe Saldana, C.C.H Pounder, and Laz Alonso might be tied up with this over the next 3 to 5 years, assuming they are all returning. I’m pretty sure Saldana is.