Image via TOMMASO BODDI / GETTY IMAGES FOR AMC //
As well as a quick update on ‘Avatar 3’…
In news set to make James Cameron fans and just science-fiction fans in general absolutely delighted, filming for Avatar 2 is “100 percent complete”, taken straight from the man himself James Cameron’s mouth. The update came during a livestream chat with Terminator collaborator Arnold Schwarzenegger which was part of the 2020 Austrian World Summit.
Opening up on how COVID-19 affected production, Cameron explained “Well, COVID-19 hit us like it hit everybody. Hit us hard. 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 that 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 on Avatar 3.”
Sounds very promising, and dope to see Cameron has kept grinding on the film regardless of the obvious challenges. He also opened up on his happiness with choosing New Zealand as the production site, adding on “We’re very lucky in that we chose this as our production site years ago,” Cameron said. “We made the first film here in New Zealand and it turns out to be, it’s ranked either the first or second best country in the world for its COVID-19 response. Sometimes Germany is in the number one spot, sometimes New Zealand is in the number one spot. But we’re actually able to operate. We’re at level 2 here right now but we’re able to operate, we’re able to shoot, and we’re able to have a more or less normal life here. We’re very fortunate.”
Cameron returned to New Zealand back in June to resume production on the two films, which was put on hold in March due to lockdown and other virus concerns.
Avatar 2 is set to arrive on December 16, 2022, while Avatar 3 will be released on December 20, 2024. Sequels are expected in 2026 and 2028. Check the full conversation with Cameron below (he starts talking about Avatar at around the nine minute mark).
