Veteran filmmaker James Cameron has revealed that the shooting of the much-anticipated 'Avatar 2' is over and the team is also almost done with the filming of the third installment in the franchise. Cameron shared the updated on the follow-up films of the 2009 blockbuster during a Zoom interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead of the 2020 Austrian World Summit.
“Avatar” was in the middle of production in New Zealand earlier this year when filming was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
New Zealand was declared coronavirus-free in June after which the team got the permission to start the production with safety measures in place.
“COVID hit us like it hit everybody. It 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,” Cameron, 66, said.
“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 per cent left to go. We’re 100 per cent complete on ‘Avatar 2’, and we’re sort of 95 per cent complete on ‘Avatar 3’,” the director added.
“Avatar 2” was originally scheduled to bow out on December 17, 2021, but will now release in December 2022.
The movie marks the return of original stars Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Actors Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis are the new additions.