'Avatar 2' wraps filming, director James Cameron confirms

Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron has confirmed that the live-action shooting for Avatar 2 is done, while Avatar 3 is 95 percent complete, according to a report published by entertainment website Variety.

Cameron broke the news during a video chat with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of the 2020 Austrian World Summit.

“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 with Avatar 3,” Cameron said.

The director also talked about the production delays experienced because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

He shares, "COVID hit us like it hit everybody… We lost about four and a half months of production. 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."

Back in July, Disney announced that it had moved the schedules of the Avatar sequels back a year – Avatar 2 was set for Dec. 16, 2022; Avatar 3 slated for Dec. 20, 2024; Avatar 4 to debut on Dec. 18, 2026; while Avatar 5 premieres on Dec. 22, 2028.

The long-awaited sequel of the 2009 sci-fi blockbuster has been in production for quite a while now, with its release date pushed back a total of eight times.

Avatar 2 stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Stephen Lang, and Matt Gerald. Joining them are new cast members composed of Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, Michelle Yeoh, Vin Diesel, Jemaine Clement, and Oona Chaplin.