Fans of the hit blockbuster movie 'Avatar' will be excited about the latest news emerging on the franchise, with rumors that Avatar 2 will have a release date in 2016, and that a third and fourth movie will also arrive in the years following that.

Avatar director James Cameron has said: "The first film...took almost four years to make. We expected to be able to accelerate the process quite a bit, because we've improved a lot of the software and the computer graphics tools, and we've been working very closely with Weta Digital down here in New Zealand developing a whole new suite of tools to speed up the process."

He confirmed that work is already underway on the new film, and that Avatar 2 is in an early stage, with the production teams working on the scripts, designs for the characters, and confirming locations and settings for the films.

Cameron has confirmed that fans can expect for Avatar 3 and Avatar 4 to have premiere dates each year following the first sequel, which is touted for December 2016.

According to reports, each sequel will have its own stand alone storyline, but will also fit perfectly into the bigger story arc.

The cast will explore the other moons of Polyphemus and 'Avatar 2' will explore the Na'vi culture in more detail.

The oceans of Pandora will also be explored and there will be more volcanoes too.

The storyline of Avatar 2 will be set several years from where the first film left off.

All the 'Avatar' sequels are to be shot together at once and will be edited in a post production process, but not released together.

It is also expected that the upcoming 'Avatar' films would be available in 3D.