Filming on James Cameron’s back to back Avatar sequels started in August 2017 and still hasn’t finished yet, which gives you some indication of the sheer scale of the production. The director may have confirmed that shooting on the second installment had officially wrapped several months ago, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the movie was delayed again given both the vast amount of post-production work required and the fact that it’s already been pushed back eight times.
There’s a lot riding on the success of Avatar 2 as well, which has been in the works so long that it began as a Fox enterprise, but will be released and distributed by Disney through the rebranded 20th Century Studios when it finally arrives in December of next year. Not only that, but Cameron is looking to direct the highest-grossing movie in history for an unprecedented third time, after not at all bitterly claiming that Avengers: Endgame only took the top spot due to a rounding error.
Kate Winslet is reuniting with her Titanic director on the project, and even broke Tom Cruise’s underwater record for good measure, but in a recent interview, the Academy Award winner admitted that when she was on set, she wasn’t even sure whether her scenes would be part of Avatar 2 or 3.
“I lost track of how many he is making at once. I did two at once, in tandem with him. All my work was in 2018. It’s an extraordinary experience. You go into this huge aircraft hanger and anything is possible. You want to fly today? You want to do some spear fighting underwater? Sure, we’ll do it. It was wonderful for me to be a part of such a well-oiled machine, with such great artists and technicians.”
Avatar may have raked in close to $2.8 billion at the box office, but the public perception of the Pandoran blockbuster seems to have soured a great deal over the last decade, with many dismissing it as uninspired and overrated. However, we know better than to rule James Cameron out when it comes to anything, so don’t be surprised if the sequel winds up dominating cinemas for months in a similar fashion to its predecessor.