'Avatar' sequels release date announced for 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025

20th Century Fox released a photo of James Cameron with the production crew of "Avatar" sequels to update the release dates.Facebook/Avatar

20th Century Fox updated "Avatar" fans about the latest release dates for the film's upcoming sequels.

After several delays, the film outfit officially announced on Facebook through a photo of film director James Cameron and the rest of the crew that production for the next installments of the epic sci-fi saga is finally underway.

They also mention that the second film will arrive in cinemas on Dec. 18, 2020, then the third movie will be released on Dec. 17, 2021. It will be followed by the fourth "Avatar" film on Dec. 20, 2024, while the fifth movie will come out on Dec. 19, 2025.

This is not the first time that Cameron announced the release dates of the "Avatar" sequels. Back in 2014, Cameron revealed he is planning to release all the sequels by December 2016 to 2018. But by 2015, the initial schedules were all delayed by a year each. However, in January 2016, Fox revealed it will delay the release of the films further.

Filming was also initially scheduled to start in April 2016 in New Zealand, but it was also rescheduled to Aug. 15, 2017. However, Cameron also confirmed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in March that "Avatar 2" will no longer screen in 2018. "What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So, we're not making Avatar 2, we're making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It's an epic undertaking. It's not unlike building the Three Gorges dam," the film director stated in the interview.

The sequels of the blockbuster hit movie that was released in 2009 will see the return of original characters including Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Dr. Grace Augustin (Sigourney Weaver), and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) will also come back in the upcoming sequels.

More details about the upcoming "Avatar" sequels are expected to be announced before the second installment comes out in 2020.