James Cameron confirms Avatar 2 filming is complete

LOS ANGELES: Director James Cameron has said that his ‘Avatar’ sequels are finally close to the finish line.

The director recently revealed that he is “100 percent complete” on filming Avatar 2 and “95 percent” complete on Avatar 3.

During an online interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger ahead of the 2020 Austrian World Summit, Cameron provided updates on the follow-up films to the 2009 blockbuster.

“COVID hit us like it hit everybody… We lost about four and a half months of production,” he said. “As a result of that, we’ve rolled around one more full year for a release in December of 2022. That’s been announced already.

“Now that doesn’t mean I have an extra year to finish the film because the day we deliver Avatar 2 we’ll just start working on finishing Avatar 3,” the director added.

“So where we are right now, I’m down in New Zealand shooting. We’re shooting the remainder of the live-action. We’ve got about 10 percent left to go. We’re 100 percent complete on Avatar 2 and we’re sort of 95 percent complete on Avatar 3.”

Cameron first announced ‘Avatar 2’ a decade ago back in 2010 but the film’s scheduled release date has been repeatedly pushed back.

The film recently resumed production after the pandemic shut down the industry in March and had to move its projected premiere date of 17th December 2021.

In September, producer Jon Landau previously posted images of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, who are also returning for the sequels, with new cast members Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis.

The second Avatar film will focus on the offspring of Jake Sully (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana). Avatar 2 is now slated to hit theaters December 2022, while Avatar 3, 4, and 5 are also in the works.