Film and TV production has resumed in New Zealand, meaning the live-action scenes that still need to be shot for James Cameron’s four Avatar sequels can start up again, as reports say that the total cost for the sequels is hovering around a cool billion. Breaking down to approximately $250 million a movie.
As Deadline reports, Avatars 2 through 5 will be picking up where they left off in a few months’s time, along with Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings series which also, naturally, shoots in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s health and safety production protocols have been endorsed by the national government, which means that cameras can start rolling once more on the big live pieces for Cameron’s blockbusters sequels, which are being filmed all at once. In fact, some New Zealand film and TV shoots are already underway.
The official Avatar Twitter account posted an image of James Cameron on set, though the team is currently not back in New Zealand yet.
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
Back in January, before the COVID-19 crisis shut down most productions all over the world, some cool concept art for the Avatar sequels was revealed…
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Avatar 2 is still on track to open December 17, 2021 – with the others set to release on December 22, 2023, December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027.
Avatar was the highest-grossing movie of all time until Avengers: Endgame dethroned it. The margin between the two films is so small, however, that James Cameron believes Avatar, once inevitably re-released ahead of Avatar 2, will reclaim the top spot.
For more on the Avatar sequels, read about Michelle Yeoh’s casting, what Stephen Lang had to say about filming performance-capture underwater, and what James Cameron had to say about Kate Winslet’s character.
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Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Source: IGN.com The Avatar Sequels Cost Billion to Produce