It's not Santa and his flying reindeer that'll have you struggling to sleep on Christmas Eve 2017, it's an other-worldly warrior and his flying Mountain Banshee.

Avatar, which became the highest-grossing film of all time upon its 2009 release, will finally see a sequel in 2017, Variety has reported, though the film was originally set to make its debut a year earlier. 20th Century Fox chairman-CEO Jim Gianopulos confirmed that two additional follow-ups are slated for 2018 and 2019 at a conference in New York City on Thursday, according to the site.

Gianopulos noted that Avator creator and director James Cameron wants to ensure that the film is perfect, and that he's hard at work in his New Zealand office.

"It’s a room…which is covered floor to ceiling with images, characters, worlds, settings,” the rep said. “It’s the most amazing, breathtaking thing you’ve ever seen. His challenge is to put all of that in a movie."

And, in spite of a delay, Gianopulos noted work on the sequel is going much more smoothly than it did for the first film.

"In the first movie, [Cameron] created technology that was so far ahead of its time,” he said. “Of course now he’s gone past that…all the pieces are in place. The story is being finalized.”

Eagerly awaiting the return of Avatar? Disappointed we're still a couple years away from the return of Jake Sully? Share your thoughts on the announcement.

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