'Avatar' Prequel Plans Already in the Works?

Since the release of "Avatar" there has been wide speculation of just how many other films were going to be made about the movie franchise. During a recent interview, James Cameron, who directed the film, hinted that a fourth installment was on the horizon.

"I have an idea for a fourth," Cameron told MTV News. "I haven't really put pen to paper on it, but basically it goes back to the early expeditions of Pandora, and kind of what went wrong with the humans and the Na'vi."

Before Cameron is able to get to that possible prequel as the fourth installment he must first shoot the next two, which has been rumored to be happening simultaneously.

Jon Landau, who produced two of the top grossing movies of all time, "Titanic" and "Avatar"- both which earned more than $1 billion world-wide- recently clarified statements made by "Avatar" star Sigourney Weaver when she stated three films were going to be filmed as the same time.

"We doing two back-to-back, but not a third," Landau told the CourierPostOnline.com.

Yet, Cameron maintains that as the story progresses, its natural path leads to a prequel detailing how Pandora came to be.

"Because when we drop in, even in the first film in 'Avatar 1,' as it will be known in the future, we're dropping into a process that's 35 years in to a whole colonization," Cameron told MTV News during an interview.

"It's a logical thing to do because we'll have completed the thematic arc by the end of three. The only thing left to do is go back to see what it was like on those first expeditions and create some new characters that then become legacy characters in later films. It's a plan."

While Cameron does envision an "Avatar 4," he must first shoot the next two, revealing that he and his team are currently "working on it."