Avatar producer Jon Landau has revealed to MTV that director James Cameron is planning to write a prequel novel to the Avatar story.
“Jim is going to write a novel himself. Not a novelization — and there is a distinction. A novelization basically retells the story of the movie. Jim wants to write a novel that is a big, epic story that fills in a lot of things.” (MTV)
Landau talked in further detail about what Cameron’s novel will include:
“[Giving a] foundation for the world. It would be something that would lead up to telling the story of the movie, but it would go into much more depth about all the stories that we didn’t have time to deal with — like the schoolhouse and Sigourney [Weaver’s character] teaching at the schoolhouse; Jake on Earth and his backstory and how he came here; [the death of] Tommy, Jake’s brother; and Colonel Quaritch, how he ended up there and all that.”
Some might argue that Avatar‘s storyline did not have enough merit to warrant a prequel or a cinematic sequel, however if we take Cameron’s original script treatment into consideration he certainly deserves a chance to give the world a deeper look into his brainchild.
According to the treatment, Earth’s population has tripled, and the planet is dying due to a combination of “overpopulation, over- development, nuclear terrorism, environmental warfare tactics, radiation leakage from power plants and waste dumps, toxic waste, air pollution, deforestation, pollution and overfishing of the oceans, global warming, ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity through extinction.” (/Film)
A novel that includes all of the details the film couldn’t integrate will surely be interesting at the very least. Whether it can live up to the hype or not Cameron is sure to have a best seller on his hands.
The as yet untitled novel is planned to be available in stores by the end of this year.
Would you buy Cameron’s prequel novel to Avatar?