Battleangel

MTV

“My summer vacation is over,” a determined Cameron said this week, signaling an end to his nine-year absence from directing major motion pictures. “It’s time to go back to work.”

Cameron is finally pulling back the curtain on two would-be trilogies that might define sci-fi filmmaking for the next decade and beyond. “I have two franchises, if you will, or films that play out over an arc of a number of films that I am going to be making,” he revealed. “[I won’t make them] back-to-back, but one after another. They, in turn, might spawn back-to-back sequels. It all depends on how the first one does.”

Both the “Avatar” and “Battle Angel” series, he added, will begin with self-contained debut movies along the lines of the original “Star Wars” trilogy. “The films have to play as individual films, but they have a greater story arc that goes over the three-film cycle,” he insisted, saying he isn’t a big fan of “The Matrix Reloaded”-like cliffhangers between chapters. “I think that’s how it works the best. I don’t think you want to just run people off the cliff after the second film.”

Yeah, yeah, sounds great. But when will it happen? Talking about sequels to movies that will ostensibly premiere in 2009 is a little far fetched.