Film composer James Horner, best known for creating the original music scores to some of the biggest motion pictures of all time, died on Monday after a small aircraft he had been piloting crashed about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, CA. He was 61.

The thing about James Cameron‘s Avatar is that you hardly ever hear anyone talk about it now. Surely the planned sequels would have generated public interest, but all anyone involved in the production has done so far was dodge questions, tease, or just say more movies are coming. There is no denying that the 2009 film was visually stunning and was a box office smash, so it makes sense to see more of the world of Pandora through more sequels, three to be exact. While we knew that the three sequels would be shot in one production, with the first scheduled for a December 2016 release and the other two following in 2017 and 2018 respectively, not has been revealed about the development of the franchise.

Now, Cameron has revealed that he is pushing the release date of the first sequel to 2017 because they need more time, as the writing process for the project is “very involved.”

Most of the time when we are told that a movie will blow us away by its director, it tends to be a bit of an overblown reaction. Maybe their expectations are too high or it’s just another marketing strategy to get people to watch the film. But for James Cameron there is a specific reason for him to get audiences amped up. Especially for a film like Avatar. Now, Avatar isn’t universally loved by all, but a lot of people can agree that the visuals set the standard for high quality visual effects and has done so much for motion capture technology.

Cameron is currently working on three Avatar sequels, but production for those films have yet to start. While we wait for cameras to roll, the director is speaking out about what we will see, and according to him, we will “shit” ourselves. He also addressed the frame rate for the film. Hit the jump for more.

Disney’s D23 Expo 2013 took over the Anaheim Convention Center one year ago this weekend. Tens of thousands of Disney fans gathered in the monstrous venue to peek into Disney’s future films and theme park creations, as well as to reflect on the company’s inspired history of brands and products. We at Geeks of Doom brought you live coverage of the event that included videos, previews of upcoming movies, and tours of exhibits.

Much has changed since the event, in terms of how certain properties evolved. This Disney In Depth reflects on the D23 Expo, based on what worked best, what deemed disappointing and how next year’s event can be even better.

At last summer’s D23 Expo, we got a tiny glimpse at what the Disney Imagineers have in mind for their Avatar-themed expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at the Disney World Resort. Ground broke back in January at the Orlando theme park on the new land, which is being created in conjunction with Avatar director James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment.

The folks over at the Disney fan site MouseSteps posted a video of some Avatar-colored twinkling lights seen this weekend on the Animal Kingdom’s centerpiece, the Tree of Tree. The lights were part of the park’s new special event, Harambe Nights, which celebrates the story of Disney’s The Lion King. Check out the video here below.