Avatar was released back in 2009, and is one of the highest grossing films of all time. A sequel was inevitable, but it took a while for one to be announced. When it was announced it was revealed that there will actually be another four films, but as time went on, more and more doubt was cast on whether or not the follow-ups would happen as there was no movement on the projects.
However, today work has officially kicked off on the sequels as Weta Digital has revealed they are working on the visual effects. “What Joe Letteri (senior visual effects supervisor) and Weta Digital bring to these stories is impossible to quantify,” said director James Cameron. “Since we made ‘Avatar,’ Weta continued to prove themselves as doing the best CG animation, the most human, the most alive, the most photo-realistic effects in the world. And of course, that now means I can push them to take it even further.”
“Avatar is the ideal type of film for us,” added Letteri. “Jim’s vision for the world of Pandora was always so much bigger than what we created for the first film. Helping him expand the language of cinema through new narratives set in such an expansive universe is the type of opportunity that rarely comes along twice. Projects like this allow everyone involved to push themselves to do their best work.”
“The excitement at Weta around ‘Avatar’ is obvious and the fact is that we have already been working on it for a number of years,” said Weta Digital executive producer David Conley. “During that period we have grown the company to a size and model that allows us to expand beyond any one project. This enables us to find a mix of other films that can help us grow along with ‘Avatar,’ as is the case with ‘Alita: Battle Angel,’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Mortal Engines,’ to name a few of the other films we are currently working on.”
As of right now, Avatar 2 is slated for a December 18, 2020 release date.