Avatar producer Jon Landau has confirmed that production on the upcoming sequels has been halted due to New Zealand's ongoing attempts to halt the spread of the Coronavirus. Now, shooting will be delayed, but the Wellington-based Weta Digital are set to continue working on the visual effects.
The movie's executive team, meanwhile, are set to remain in Los Angeles after cancelling a flight to Wellington on Friday. That block of filming that was supposed to take place in Wellington's Stone Street Studios in April.
"We've delayed it," Landau confirms. "We had plans to come down Friday night with a group of people and start back up and we made the decision to hold off and continue working here [Los Angeles], and come down there a little bit later than we'd planned."
"We're in the midst of a global crisis and this is not about the film industry. I think everybody needs to do now whatever we can do, as we say here, to flatten the [coronavirus] curve." As for when production in New Zealand could resume, the producer noted that they are re-assessing the schedule "everyday, because that's how quickly things change."
The first Avatar sequel is supposed to be released on December 17th, 2021, with three more instalments following in 2023, 2025, and 2027. The combined budget is believed to be $1 billion.
It's become clear now that the entertainment industry as a whole is going to essentially have to be put on hold for the foreseeable future, because while most productions had been paused for two weeks, it's evident this pandemic is actually going to last quite a bit longer than that.
We'll keep you guys updated.