It has been more than seven years since Avatar first hit theaters and we still don't have a sequel. By now it feels like we should have had at least one, if not two sequels, but James Cameron is taking his time. After a ton of false starts and a whole lot of prep work, the director has finally confirmed that actual work on Avatar 2 and the other three impending sequels is underway, with motion-capture set to begin in August.

James Cameron recently spoke at length with The Daily Beast about quite a few topics, but it was impossible not to bring up Avatar 2 in the process. When the subject of the long-in-development sequels to the most financially successful movie ever made came up, the 62-year-old director offered some incredibly encouraging information. Here is what he had to say about it.

""The thing is, my focus isn't on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That's exactly how I'm approaching it. They've all been developed equally. I've just finished the script to Avatar 5. I'm now starting the process of active prep. I'll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I'm booked in production every day between now and then. Our volume is up and running, and everything is designed, and so we're going full-guns right now. I feel like I've been let out of jail, because I've been in the writing cave for the last two years. I'm actually enjoying life. I don't enjoy writing. I wouldn't wish writing on a dog."

The scripts are finally done and James Cameron is "full-guns" on Avatar 2 through Avatar 5 as we speak. A massive part of the reason for the long delay is because Cameron is planning on shooting all of the movies at the same time and discovered a much larger story during the process of developing Avatar 2. Fans who have been waiting impatiently for another installment of Avatar may be hesitant to believe the movie is actually happening until cameras start rolling, but it seems as though it is the real deal this time around. It is hard to not notice James Cameron's comments about the writing process and what that may mean for the scripts, but we can't know about that until the movies actually hit theaters.

As of right now, Avatar 2 is scheduled to hit theaters in December of 2018, but Sigourney Weaver mentioned a couple of months ago that they hadn't started yet and that could delay things. Given that the motion-capture process won't even start until August, it seems highly unlikely that they can make that December 2018, release. The post-production process is very long on a movie like Avatar 2 and since they will be shooting all four movies at the same time, it will probably be a very long production process.

Story details for the Avatar sequels have largely been kept under wraps, but we know that Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Sam Worthington are all coming back for the sequels. If we're lucky, James Cameron may crack the code on "glasses-free" 3D before the final Avatar movie is released. The first Avatar is still the highest-grossing movie ever, having grossed $2.7 billion worldwide. Avatar 2 may not be able to match that, but it is very likely that Fox should be rolling in the dough once the movie finally hits theaters. As of right now, Avatar 2 is scheduled to hit theaters in December 2018, and the three sequels will follow in December of 2020, 2022 and 2023. Before the movies hit, fans can explore the world of Pandora at Disney theme parks around the world.