New Zealand is among the few countries that are winning the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. Because of that, their national government has already endorsed the country's health protocols, which means the Avatar sequels and the Lord of the Rings TV series productions can restart.
Avatar Production Restarted?
According to a report by Deadline, the New Zealand Film Commission has confirmed that some TV and film shoots "are already safely underway," which could pave the way for the sequel of the second-highest-grossing movies of all time: Avatar.
Director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau were filming the live-action scenes of the sequel when the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Since then, they have been working on the CGI parts of the films in California with Weta Digital on the helm.
The official Twitter account of the film recently posted photos of their production. Still, it is unclear whether they are indeed back to production or it was a series of past images that they have only published online.
From the set of the sequels: @JimCameron directing the actors before they dive underwater for performance capture.
Fun fact: That layer of white on the water's surface is comprised of floating balls that prevent lights from interfering with filming underwater. pic.twitter.com/dOBwS6qOXF — Avatar (@officialavatar) May 6, 2020
Since Avatar is one of the biggest films of all time, all eyes are on the sequel--and it seems fans can have something to look forward to, especially when the movies apparently have one of the biggest budgets.
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The Biggest Budget of All Time
In a report by GamesRadar, the sequels are said to have a $1 billion budget.
Nevertheless, it is unclear whether the budget is for Avatar 2 and 3, which are being filmed back to back, or whether it's for the entire franchise.
In comparison, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, which were also filmed back to back, were reported to have a $700 million budget between the two of them, although Marvel or Joe and Anthony Russo did not confirm it.
It also appears that Avatar 4 and 5 are already in pre-production, but Disney, which previously bought 20 Century Fox and will, therefore, release the movies, are waiting if the second or third sequels will have the same success as the first one.
"Let's face it. If Avatar 2 and 3 don't make enough money, there's not going to be a 4 and 5," director Cameron told Vanity Fair in a previous report.
All the franchise's sequels already have premiere dates, with the second coming on December 17, 2021; Avatar 3 will be shown on December 2023; Avatar 4 on December 2025; and finally, Avatar 5 is on December 2027.
Lord of the Rings Series Also Back on Track?
Besides the science-fiction movie, a highly anticipated Lord of the Rings TV series is also believed to be back in production after the pandemic cut them off.
In mid-March, when the world was suddenly in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Amazon series had to stop production and had to send home hundreds of cast and crew from their production in West Auckland, New Zealand.
Although the country now allows shoots, every product will be required to complete a registration with ScreenSafe, which enables the Ministry of Health with their contract tracing, as well as WorkSafe for monitoring.
The country only has 1,139 cases reported and only 21 deaths--and with the numbers dwindling down, they are planning to continue easing their lockdown.
