The Avatar sequels were forced to halt production due to COVID-19, but thanks to the way New Zealand has managed to get the virus under control, it wasn't long before shooting was able to resume.
In a video call ahead of the 2020 Austrian World Summit environmental conference, director James Cameron spoke to Arnold Schwarzenegger (via The Independent) and confirmed that not only is Avatar 2 finished, but Avatar 3 shouldn't be too far behind. The sequels were shot back to back, but it's still surprising to hear that the movies are so far along.
"COVID hit us like it hit everybody," the filmmaker explained. "We lost about four and a half months of production. As a result of that, we've rolled around one more full year for a release in December of 2022. That's been announced already. Now that doesn't mean I have an extra year to finish the film, because the day we deliver Avatar 2 we'll just start working on finishing Avatar 3."
"So where we are right now," Cameron continued. "I'm down in New Zealand shooting. We're shooting the remainder of the live action. We've got about 10 per cent left to go. We're 100 per cent complete on Avatar 2, and we're sort of 95 per cent complete on Avatar 3."
Avatar 2 is set to be released December 2022, and Disney is clearly hoping - as we all are - that the pandemic is long gone by then. There are tentative plans in place for an Avatar 4 and 5, but it's hard to believe the studio will move forward with those until seeing how at least one of these sequels perform.
Are you guys excited for these movies?
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.