James Cameron has confirmed that shooting the live-action elements of the Avatar follow-up has been completed.
Cameron made the big reveal during an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead of the 2020 Austrian World Summit.
Speaking by video conference from New Zealand, Cameron explained that the production lost “about four and a half months” owing to COVID-19.
“We’re 100% complete on Avatar 2 and sort of 95% complete on Avatar 3. So where we are right now, I’m down in New Zealand shooting,” Cameron also told Schwarzenegger.
To Schwarzenegger, he said, “We’re able to operate. We’re able to shoot and have a more or less normal life here. We were very fortunate, so I don’t see any roadblocks to us getting the picture finished, getting both pictures finished.”
It must be noted that the Avatar sequels started development in 2017 and filming was halted earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic
In July, Disney moved all the Avatar sequels, setting Avatar 2 on December 16, 2022 and Avatar 3 on December 20, 2024. The fourth and fifth pictures are due in 2026 and 2028.
The original 2009 film became the highest-grossing movie of all time, raking-in $2.79 billion worldwide on a $237 million budget.