James Cameron's Avatar franchise is a planned series of science fiction films produced by Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios, as well as associated computer games and theme park rides.
The first installment, Avatar, was released on December 18, 2009 and was the highest grossing film of all-time for almost ten years after its release. The planned series was announced by 20th Century Fox on December 11, 2009, one week before Avatar was released to theaters. 20th Century Fox has confirmed the series on January 15, 2010. Note that the sequels only have working titles as of yet and they will most likely be given different names closer to the release.
Like the original film, the four planned sequels have "fully encapsulated" standalone plots that "come to their own conclusions". All four films have an overarching meta-narrative that connects them and have the Sully family at the center. James Cameron described the sequels as "a natural extension of all the themes, and the characters, and the spiritual undercurrents" of the first film.
The franchise underwent extended development. After the development and production of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth films, the combined budget for the first installment and the next four installments is between $1 billion - $2 billion, making the Avatar franchise one of the most expensive franchises and one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, as well as the first film receiving critical acclaim.