AVATAR 2 (Director Speaks)

• AVATAR 2 GO INTO THE OCEAN

Director James Cameron talked to ABC's "Nightline"recently about Avatar 2, which won't be coming to theaters until December of2014. While we wait, he offered up some details of what we can expect from thefollow-up to the film that earned $2.782 billion at the worldwide box office.

Asked what he can tell us about the sequel, he said,"It's on Pandora. Well, I'm really writing the second and third filmstogether, so it completes a kinda three film story arc. And we will see theoceans of Pandora, which we haven't seen at all and that's an ecosystem thatI'm dying to start designing because it's going to look spectacular."

He added that the next film "narrows the spotlightinstead of just nature in general or the rainforest. It focuses it a littlemore on ocean issues, because we have a planet that's a blue planet. From adistance, you look at it, the Earth is a lot more blue than it is, you knowbrown, the land mass. We're making the oceans unsurvivable for a lot of thespecies right now. For a lot or reasons. It's just a way to focus a littleenergy in that direction."

He then revealed a bit more in the interview. "Andthere will be other planets as well, besides Pandora. It will be a cornucopia,a treat for the eyes," he said.

Cameron added that he's certainly not taking credit foreverything though. "I get to imagine things at a kind of fuzzy level andthen I bring in a lot of great artists and they come up with all the amazingcreatures and plants and that sort of thing."

Asked whether he will approach the new films differently, hesaid, ""I think it's just a continuation of the same thing. I wantpeople to feel that same sense of excitement about that world. You know, thefictional Na'vi people and I want them to feel that excitement of discovery ofa new world that they're going to see things that they haven't imagined. Allthat sort of the perk package of the first movie is still going to be there.And the themes will be there and be played out in a way that I think people canaccept."

But he did say he's not going to stuff the environmentalissues down our throat. "I'm not going to become more strident. I'm notgoing to say, 'well, we got away with this much environmental content in thefirst movie, now there's double.' Because I think that would be a mistake. Ithas to be entertainment first and foremost."