James Cameron on Avatar sequel

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that James Cameron had started making plans for a sequel to Avatar during production. The director stated, "I've had a storyline in mind from the start - there are even scenes in Avatar that I kept in because they lead to the sequel. It just makes sense to think of it as a two or three film arc, in terms of the business plan. The CG plants and trees and creatures and the musculo-skeletal rigging of the main characters - that all takes an enormous amount of time to create. It'd be a waste not to use it again."

Sam Worthington is already signed to do a sequel, and he sent Entertainment Weekly his ideas for a sequel, joking, ""Jake should have abused his avatar and be fat and unfit and demand Neyteri to get him a beer."

With Avatar heading into its fifth week of release, Fandango is reporting that 80% of its recent tickets sales have been for the 3D and IMAX presentations of the film. While 73% of this weekend's ticket sales have been for Avatar. 7% have been for Denzel Washington's Book of Eli, and Peter Jackson's is bringing up the rear with just 5% of ticket sales.

So far, Avatar has made $1.42 billion worldwide, passing Shrek 2's domestic take of $441.2 million to become the fourth highest grossing film of all time with $445.7 million. It's only lagging behind Star Wars which stands at $460.9 million, The Dark Knight with $533.3 million, and James Cameron's own with $600.8 million.

Avatar stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi
, Stephen Lang, and Matt Gerald . It is in theaters now.