'Avatar 2' release date: Sigourney Weaver worried that December 2018 rollout is not 'realistic'

Sigourney Weaver just doused water on rampant rumors that "Avatar 2" might finally be heading to the big screen December of 2018.

The actress who plays Dr. Grace Augustine in the budding franchise being built by James Cameron recently shared that chances are highly unlikely that the direct sequel to the 2009 smash hit, "Avatar" will be arriving in two years' time. It can be remembered that due to a reshuffling in 20th Century Fox timeline opens a slot for Cameron's LightStorm Entertainment scheduled Dec. 21, 2018, which many believed is for "Avatar 2."

"We haven't started it, so I don't know how realistic that date is, but I think it's going to be very exciting," the veteran actress told The Hollywood Reporter when she talked to the outlet before the screening for her latest gig "A Monster Calls." "I've read three of the four [sequel's scripts,] and they're even more extraordinary than the first one," she went on to say.

Her co-star in the film, Stephen Lang, has previously shared that principal photography for the continuation of the sci-fi narrative will start when 2017 rolls out. "As the New Year turns, we start to shoot for the Avatar sequels," he said during his appearance back this summer in Wizard World Comic Con Chicago. "I think that the whole process of making the films and opening the films will go to about 2023." Lang is tipped to reprise his role as Colonel Miles Quaritch moving forward in the series.

In retrospect, two years is a plenty amount of time to polish a movie, but it can be quite tricky when it comes to VFX-heavy ones like the "Avatar" films. Especially so when the debut iteration of the franchise has become a launching pad to new heights when it comes to shooting flicks, one can expect that Cameron and his team will be trying to raise the bar in terms of computer-generated graphics.

The "Avatar" films have long been brewing in the can. Production has been delayed over and over again due to some factors often cited as production-related or technology-based ones. Although critics have pointed out that for quite some time, the movies are having a difficult time nabbing a release date due to blockbuster hits like Marvel movies or "Star Wars" planting flags at their launches.