Big movies require big sets to film. There’s a ton of places in Hollywood of course, various studio lots in London and the far more economical and ready to be pimped out stages right ehre in Cape Town (Y U NO FILM MORE DREDD SEQUEL HERE?).
And then of course, there’s the land of second place rugby winners, Hobbits and acceptable facial tattoos. Or in other words, New Zealand.
Avatar sequels 2,3 and 4 will all be heading to the Shire soon to kick off production. With a couple of tax incentives from the New Zealand government, and close proximity to special and practical effects powerhouse WETA, the move does make sense for the burgeoning franchise.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Cameron compared his upcoming sequels to the Godfather films, and how Pandora would be explored much further, possibly looking at other cultures that happen to share the planet with the Na’Vi:
It’s going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora. We’re blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it.
There’s a fair bit of underwater stuff. It’s been inaccurately said that the second film takes place underwater. That’s not true. There are underwater scenes and surface-water scenes having to do with indigenous ocean cultures that are distributed across the three films.
Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully was undoubtedly the main character of Avatar 1, but audiences will get to meet the rest of his family in the sequels, Cameron revealed:
It was very Jake-centric. His story seen through his eyes. We spread it around quite a bit more as we go forward. It’s really the story of his family, the family that he creates on Pandora. His extended family. So think of it as a family saga like ‘The Godfather.’
The first sequel gets a December 2016 release, with the remaining two movies to follow in 2017 and 2018 if all goes to plan. Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang are all back, with Cameron behind the lens.
Last Updated: December 17, 2013
Hammersteyn
December 17, 2013 at 12:53
MORE DREDD SEQUELS!
TiMsTeR1033
December 17, 2013 at 13:00
Screw DREDD I want MORE AVATAR!!
Alien Emperor Trevor
December 17, 2013 at 13:17
You shut your filthy whore mouth!
TiMsTeR1033
December 17, 2013 at 13:22
AVATAR!!!!
Corporal Stick
December 17, 2013 at 13:32
Avatarded!
TiMsTeR1033
December 17, 2013 at 13:38
Your mother is AVATARDED!!
Hammersteyn
December 17, 2013 at 13:47
You know not what you say 🙁
TiMsTeR1033
December 17, 2013 at 13:54
Dredd was okay movie..
Hammersteyn
December 17, 2013 at 14:06
It was way better than Stallone’s version. Karl Urban was a badass
Alien Emperor Trevor
December 17, 2013 at 13:17
+1 bajillion upvotes!
Skyblue
December 17, 2013 at 23:54
“burgeoning franchise” for the highest grossing movie of all time… no
Gareth L
December 18, 2013 at 10:04
Cool, so they will coincide with the release of the Xbox One in SA.