Deadline recently revealed that New Zealand is reopening film and television production, which could allow James Cameron to continue work on the live-action portions of his Avatar sequels (HNE confirmed last year the working title is Coral) at Wellington’s Stone Street Studios when they’re ready.
However, a time frame of when Disney/20th Century Studios plans on resuming production in New Zealand is unclear as they’ll likely want to make sure their cast and crew are safe.
Studios have been also given the okay to potentially resume productions in the UK as well, but nothing is officially resuming filming or starting pre-production set construction. Many studios are likely to be a little more cautious about when they want to start shooting as a second wave of the virus could quickly shutdown things if they’ve reopened making it even more difficult for them if they start up and have to stop again.
Deadline is also stating that the combined costs of the Avatar sequels are more than one billion dollars, a hefty budget but they are making 2-4 movies at the same time.
Three set photos were posted by the official franchise Twitter account focusing on the cast during the motion-capture section of the shoot in a water tank.
From the set of the sequels: @ZoeSaldana, Sam Worthington, Kate Winslet, and Cliff Curtis taking a break from underwater performance capture for a quick photo!
Fun fact: Much of the performance capture took place in this 900,000 gallon tank, built specifically for the sequels. pic.twitter.com/NSfqoZ6jXJ
— Avatar (@officialavatar) May 13, 2020
From the set of the sequels: @JimCameron directing the actors before they dive underwater for performance capture.
Fun fact: That layer of white on the water's surface is comprised of floating balls that prevent lights from interfering with filming underwater. pic.twitter.com/dOBwS6qOXF
— Avatar (@officialavatar) May 6, 2020
The previously announced release dates are as follows, however, delays might have an impact on Avatar 2 releasing on time.
- Avatar 2 – December 17th, 2021
- Avatar 3 – December 22nd, 2023
- Avatar 4 – December 19th, 2025
- Avatar 5 – December 17th, 2027
Are you excited about the Avatar sequels?
