Cameron to film four 'Avatar' sequels concurrently

James Cameron is to shoot all four 'Avatar' sequels concurrently - "like doing all three 'Godfather' films at the same time".

The director - who helmed the original 2009 motion picture - is taking on the challenging project for the upcoming quartet of motion pictures, 'Avatar 2', 'Avatar 3', 'Avatar 4', and 'Avatar 5', which are due to be released in December 2018, December 2020, December 2022, and December 2023 respectively.

He said: "It's not back-to-back. It's really all one big production. It's more the way you would shoot a miniseries. So we'll be shooting across all ['Avatar' scripts] simultaneously. So Monday I might be doing a scene from movie four, and Tuesday I'm doing a scene from movie one."

Cameron - who has helmed massive movies such as 'Titanic', 'Aliens' and 'The Terminator' in his career - has admitted the idea to film the four movies at the same time is the "most challenging thing" he's ever done.

He added to Famous Monsters of Filmland: "We're working across, essentially, eight hours of story. It's going to be a big challenge to keep it all fixed in our minds, exactly where we are, across that story arc at any given point. It's going to be probably the most challenging thing I've ever done.

"I'm sure the actors will be challenged by that as well. It's like, 'No, no, no, no, this person hasn't died yet, so you're still in this phase of your life.' It's a saga. It's like doing all three 'Godfather' films at the same time."