We recently heard that work on Avatar 2 could soon resume in New Zealand, and that bodes well for a movie which is shaping up to be one of 2021's biggest releases. However, when director James Cameron was recently asked whether he believes the sequel will still arrive next December as planned, he shared his belief that the delay won't change its release date.
The interview took place before the aforementioned news about restrictions being lifted in the country, but Cameron noted that things are looking good for Avatar 2 on the basis of how COVID-19 is being tackled in New Zealand.
"New Zealand seems to have been very effective in controlling the virus and their goal is not mitigation, but eradication, which they believe that they can do with aggressive contact tracing and testing," he explained. "So there's a very good chance that our shoot might be delayed a couple of months, but we can still do it. So that's good news."
As for how work has been progressing without cameras rolling, he added: "We've got everybody – everybody at Weta Digital and Lightstorm – working from home to the extent that that is possible. 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."
It's hard to say when we'll get a first look at Avatar 2, but it's good to know that work has continued, and with productions being given the green light to resume in New Zealand, that delay of "a couple of months" is likely to be quite a bit less.
As always, stay tuned to CBM for updates!