Director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau flew to New Zealand this weekend in anticipation of the recommencement of production for the 'Avatar' movies.
James Cameron was on board a chartered Air New Zealand plane with some 52 passengers. The flight departed Friday night from LAX, and flew for approximately 13 hours direct to Wellington.
Filming won't be restarting immediately. The inbound travelers are required to exercise a 14-day quarantine period.
Landau shared the following on Instagram.
Production for the 'Avatar' sequel shut down back in mid-March among health concerns. New Zealand began a strict lockdown at the time and largely shut down its borders.
Productions in New Zealand started up again in May. The 14-day quarantine means production on the sci fi action series will likely resume mid-June.
The sequels mark one of the first major Hollywood projects to resume filming.
According to Variety: “It is understood that in order to be allowed into the country at a time when borders are officially still closed Cameron, Landau and the foreign crew elements used a border exemption clause for foreigners considered of ‘significant economic value.'”
The 'Avatar' series is using multiple studios in Wellington and Auckland. The second, third and first half of the fourth films are all in production at the same time.
Motion capture on 'Avatar 2' and 'Avatar 3' have already been completed - thus since all that is left to film on the first sequel is live-action pickups, Cameron is confident that the movie will meet its 17 December 2021 release date despite the delays caused by shutdown.
