James Cameron has plans for Avatar 6 and 7, but he may train someone else to direct them

We already knew that director James Cameron had plans for five Avatar movies – but it turns out his ideas don't stop there. Avatar 6 and 7 may also be on the cards, but only if someone else can make them.

"I’d be 89 by then," the 68-year-old filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter (it took 25 years to make the first two, so this isn't too outlandish of a claim). "Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make Avatar movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required," he continued. "I would have to train somebody how to do this because, I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this."

However, these plans are all dependent on Disney (the owner of 20th Century Studios) being willing to splash the cash on the sci-fi franchise, and movies three, four, and five aren't a given.  

"We’ll probably finish movie three regardless because it’s all shot," he said. "We’d have to really crater for it not to seem like it was worth the additional investment. We’d have to leave a smoking hole in the ground. Now, hopefully, we get to tell the whole thing because five’s better than four, four’s better than three, and three’s better than two."

The budget for movie number two, Avatar: The Way of the Water, is huge, and Cameron himself has previously said that it's "the worst business case in movie history." On the other hand, 2009's Avatar went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, so it's all to play for. 

Avatar: The Way of Water arrives in theaters on December 16. While we wait, check out our guide to the other movie release dates to see what else to get excited about in 2022 and beyond.