Director James Cameron announces release date for highly-anticipated Avatar sequel

Avatar director James Cameron has confirmed Avatar 2 will begin shooting early next year, with an expected release date of Christmas 2017.

The 61-year-old Canadian filmmaker told the Montreal Gazette that work on all three sequels is well underway, with the following two films set to open in 2018 and 2019. All three sequels will be filmed simultaneously.

"Christmas of '17 is the target," he said.

"At least, that's what we've announced. But I don't consider that to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart."

Cameron said each of the three new films stand alone, but also tells one much larger story.

"We have design more or less finished, which is an enormous task. It's been about a two-year task.

"(We've finished) all the creatures and the landscapes, and the new worlds within the world of Pandora that you see.

"The writing is ongoing, but almost finished. Technical development is done. Stages are done. Infrastructure. So we're really poised to start after the first of the year."

The stars of the original film, Aussie Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, have signed on for the three films.