‘Avatar 2’: Producer Jon Landau Shares Set Photo, Says Filming To Restart In New Zealand “Next Week”
It took 10 years forAvatar 2to start production, and one pandemic isn’t going to stop it. Production on the long-in-the-works sequel was halted in March due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but it is already set to resume next week, according to producerJon Landau.
In a post on hisInstagramon Thursday, Landau teased the latest of many on-set photos ofAvatar 2, but with an exciting new reveal:Avatar 2filming will resume next week.
“OurAvatarsets are ready — and we couldn’t be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week,” Landau wrote in his caption of a new set photo of two impressive sea vessels that will make their debut in theAvatarsequel. “Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top) — can’t wait to share more.”
A post shared by Jon Landau (@jonplandau)
The sea vessels look massive and intimidating, and will likely be the ships used by the humans to traverse the mostlywater-covered worldthatAvatar 2will be exploring. Previousset imageshave highlighted the underwater segments of this world, but it’s not surprising that we’ll have some scenes aboveground, with the human military exploring these uncharted territories.
Production on the fourAvatarsequels, which were shooting back-to-back in New Zealand,was put on pausein March due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but Cameron and crew have continued chugging on remotely, with the New Zealand-based WETA Digital continuing to work on the movies' visual effects. The effects are reportedly budgeted at $1 billion.
Theslow re-opening of overseas productionshave given Cameron confidence thatAvatar 2canstill make its December 2021 releasedate, and the recent release of a string of behind-the-scenes images of the set supports that. The long-delayed sequels to the 2009 mega-hit were due to be completed by the end of 2020, and may still in fact make their release dates, which 20th Century Studios still have not changed yet.
TheAvatarsequels are bringing back the original movie’s cast membersSam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, andMatt Gerald. But there are several new cast members in the mix as well, includingKate Winslet, Edie Falco, Michelle Yeoh, Vin Diesel, Jemaine Clement, andOona Chaplin. There’s alsoa whole group of young actorsplaying Na’vi children in the movie.
Avatar 2is aiming for aDecember 27, 2021release, and three more sequels are set to quickly follow in December 2023, December 2025, and December 2027.
