The release schedule for the entertainment industry hit a standstill back in March when COVID-19 took the world by storm. Finally, the public is getting a taste of new films and shows in the works. One that plenty of fans have been excited about is the sequel to “Avatar.”
According to recent news, “Avatar 2” has finally finished filming, and “Avatar 3” is coming up quickly. This announcement comes thanks to Directer James Cameron, who, in a video chat during the 2020 Austria World Summit with Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that they are preparing for the next installments of the “Avatar” franchise with new release dates.
“COVID hit us like it hit everybody,” said James Cameron. “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.”
During his conversation, he mentioned 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, I’m down in New Zealand shooting, we’re shooting the remainder of the live-action. We’ve got about 10 percent left to go. We’re 100 percent complete on ‘Avatar 2’ and we’re sort of 95 percent complete with ‘Avatar 3.'”
James Cameron directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first installment of “The Terminator.” He felt as though he got lucky in making the choice to shoot the film in New Zealand, as the country’s response to COVID-19 had been far more effective than in most countries.
In fact, New Zealand has ranked the second safest country after Germany for its response to COVID-19. The beauty was that the crew was able to operate and shoot, all while having a fairly normal life while there. Plus, Cameron had some experience shooting in New Zealand, as the first film in the franchise was shot there as well.
‘We’re very fortunate, so I don’t see any roadblocks to us getting the picture finished,” said Cameron.
However, Cameron did not reveal any details surrounding the plot for the second or third sequels.
The second installation to the 2010 Oscar-winning epic is in production alongside the third, fourth, and fifths installments of the franchise. Due to the pandemic, the initial release date of December 2021 has been pushed back slightly.
“So where we are right now, I’m down in New Zealand shooting. We’re shooting the remainder of the live-action. We’ve got about 10% left to go. We’re [100%] complete on Avatar 2 and we’re sort of 95% complete on Avatar 3.”
“Avatar 3”, “Avatar 4”, and “Avatar 5” are set to follow in December of 2024, 2026, and 2028, respectively. The titles for these Avatar movies were released back in 2018.
As of now, the third installment of the franchise will be called “Avatar: The Seed Bearer,” while the second installment 0f the film is set to be called “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
