Avatar 2, 3, 4 Release Date News: James Cameron Reveals 'Avatar' Sequel Delay to 2017

The highly-anticipated sequel to the box-office hit "Avatar" won't be coming in theaters until 2017, Director James Cameron has announced.

In an event in New Zealand, Cameron admitted having a hard time making a story for the entire saga to work.

"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 said, according to the Rolling Stone.

"Parallel with that, we're doing all the design. So we've designed all the creatures and the environments," he added.

But Cameron, who is also leading a team that is writing the screenplays, disclosed that the scripts for the three movies may be completed by the end of January.

He explained that they are making sure that each film is linked forward to the next one in a satisfying way but, at the same time, coming down to a resolution so that the audience won't be left hanging.

"We're writing three simultaneously. And 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," he explained.

The Avatar director also revealed his plan to film the highly-anticipated sequels at one time before releasing them one at a time over a number of years.

Because all three Avatar sequels will be filmed at the same time, Cameron hinted that the production may also be delayed another year.

This would mean that the first sequel will only come out in two to three years' time, with the second sequel following a year later.

"If it all stays on track, the saga would wrap up in 2019," the Rolling Stone quoted Cameron as saying.

Earlier, the directed revealed that that the film's primary cast – Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver – have all signed on to return for the remainder of the quadrilogy.

Released in 2009, Avatar became the highest-grossing film in history, with a box-office take of nearly $2.8 billion. It also won three Academy Awards.