Avatar 2 has faced setback after setback in the years since the original movie first premiered in 2009, but not even a global pandemic is going to stop it this time.
Work on the sequel is set to resume soon in New Zealand, which was reported to have successfully eliminated covid-19 inside the country earlier in May. To celebrate the imminent return to work, producer and longtime James Cameron collaborator Jon Landau shared a taste of what’s to come on his Instagram.
“Our Avatar sets are ready – and we couldn’t be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week,” he wrote. “It’s putting a major crimp in our stride here, I want to get back to work on Avatar, which right now we’re not allowed to do under state emergency laws or rules. So it’s all on hold right now.” He also said that he was optimistic due to the way New Zealand has handled the virus, which has proven to be yet another trustworthy James Cameron instinct.
Cameron is shooting more of the live-action part of the sequels, with the extensive post-production largely unaffected by the global health crisis. “We’ve got everybody – everybody at Weta Digital and Lightstorm – working from home to the extent that that is possible,” he said in recent interview. “But my work is on the stage doing the virtual cameras and so on, so I can do a bit of editing, but it’s not great for me.”
Alien ocean and seascapes are apparently going to play a much bigger role in Avatar 2 than they did in the first movie. In another Instagram photo posted one week earlier, Landau shared a look at actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Kate Winslet, and Cliff Curtis inside the production’s “900,000 gallon performance capture tank that we built for the Avatar sequels.”
Cameron and Landau have always had big plans for following up the 2009 blockbuster. There are four sequels planned, with Avatar 2 currently on the calendar for a Dec. 17, 2021 release.
