Sam Worthington
Actor Sam Worthington, who portrays the character Jake, gets a first look at his avatar, a human-alien hybrid bred from Jake's own DNA, in this undated publicity photograph from a scene in director James Cameron's new film "Avatar." Fans will get a sneak peak at at an extended trailer from the film at selected theaters on August 21, 2009. Reuters

Owing to the huge success of "Avatar," director James Cameron announced that there will be three sequels to it. However, even five years after the release of "Avatar," there is no sign of the first sequel. Cameron now says that he is facing "complexities" in writing the story and the sequel will now be delayed until 2017. The "Avatar 2" will now compete with another science fiction film "Star Wars Episode 8" at the box office, which too is scheduled for a 2017 release.

Cameron released "Avatar" in 2009 and after its phenomenon box office success announced that three more sequels will be released. But the director now says that writing the story of Pandora and the kingdom is quite complex and his team needs more time to do justice to three sequels. "There's a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don't get when you're making a stand-alone film," Cameron is quoted as saying to Associated Press (via ABC News).

The initial plan was to shoot three sequels to "Avatar" in one production. "Avatar 2" was scheduled to be released in December 2016 and the other sequels "Avatar 3" and "Avatar 4" were planned to be released the following years. But all these plans seem to have gone for a toss after Cameron's announcement.

Cameron further told AP that the three sequels are being written simultaneously by his team members Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver. "We've done that so that everything tracks throughout the three films. We're not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that," the Canadian born director said, adding that the production team is also focusing on the design of "all the creatures and the environments" to be featured in the sequels.

"Avatar" earned nine Oscar nominations after its hugely successful release in 2009. It is the highest-grossing film in history with nearly $2.8 billion in earning. The Jon Landau produced film was not only named Best Drama at the Golden Globes but also won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. "Avatar" was shot in New Zealand and Cameron plans to shoot its sequels there again.

To contact writer, email: n.tewari@ibtimes.com.au