It has been a few days since a new article has graced the Movie Mash, so I am finally going to finish up this post I started a few weeks back. While the information is a few weeks old, it is still very important none the less. This news is concerning a movie almost everyone on this planet has seen, Avatar.

Avatar stands as the number one movie all time at the box office by far ($2.8 billion!) and the number one selling Blu-Ray of all time. That said, obviously 20th Century Fox wants to capitalize on the opportunity to tell more from the planet of Pandora, and make more money in the billions of dollars range. Hit the jump for news on Avatar 2 and Avatar 3… yes, there will be two sequels!

After Avatar, it was said James Cameron’s next film would be something different than a sequel to the highest grossing film of all time. That now is not the case. Cameron will begin writing the sequels to Avatar within the year and the plan is to begin production at the end of 2011. While you may be thinking — Yes, production starts in about a year, I will be back on Pandora before I know it — I have some bad news for you, because the two sequels aren’t slated to hit theaters until December 2014 and December 2015 (via Slashfilm).

The feeling of anxiousness may overcome you having to wait a little over three years to get lost in more Na’vi culture; but you should be encouraged because Cameron is taking the extra time to ensure the movies get done right. You would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn’t blown away by the breathtaking visuals Cameron was able to create in his fabricated world of Pandora. He changed the game in the film business forever. Audiences still to this day compare the 3D they see in theaters to the brilliance of the Avatar in 3D; but what the filmmaker brought to the table in Avatar, won’t be enough for his upcoming sequels.

If you follow this link,  you can see a video of Cameron talking about the technology he is looking to improve for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3. If you don’t want to spend three minutes of your life listening to the egotistical director, I’ll sum it up for you quickly. Film today is shot and projected at 24 frames per second. Cameron wants to present his next films in a higher frame rate than 24 because “films are a century out of date.” The man has a point, 24 frames per second has been the standard in film for far too long. Because Cameron is shooting his films digitally, and not on the old school celluloid, this advance can be accomplished. In short, this will help prevent “motion blurring” and make the picture much clearer.

The next two Avatar films will also feature the oceans of Pandora. In order for the water to look up to the standards of the finicky director, some advancements like the higher frame rate are needed for these large bodies of water to look vivid and realistic for the screen. Another advancement will come in the way the Avatar sequels are going to be shot.

The first Avatar was shot with the actors in motion capture suits like sports video games capture athletes like Drew Brees throwing a football to get his authentic motion for the game play. Cameron wants to eliminate the post production process of creating CGI effects that will be added to the images of the actors doing their thing on the sound stage and green screen. He wants to create such advanced graphic technology the addition of effects will not be needed; the world of Pandora will be filmed like it is real, instead of created in post production by computers. Confusing? Yes, it really is.

If you never saw the mind-bending technology used to create Avatar, check out the video below. It is really easy for a simpleton to understand and will blow your mind as your brain cells try to contemplate how Cameron and his creative team cooked this process up.

While most of that information is very technical, in short it simply means the Avatar sequels will push the limits of what we have seen on the theater screen, and throw us back in our seats similar to the first installment on Pandora. As more develops on the Avatar sequels, the Movie Mash will have it.

What Do You Think? Discuss.