James Cameron Offers Update on AVATAR 3 Saying It's in "Hectic" Post-Production
James Cameron has offered a brief update on Avatar 3 saying that it’s in a “very hectic” post-production schedule that is expected to last two years. During an interview with New Zealand Public Broadcast’s TVNZ, he said:
“We’re into a very hectic two-year post-production right now, so it will be Christmas of [2025].”
It’s been awhile since we’ve had any update on this project, so this is just a little reminder that the movie is still in development and that it’s coming. Avatar: The Way of Water was a huge hit for Cameron, and I imagine this third film is going to be another big success for everyone involved.
While Avatar 3 has been shot, Cameron previously said that he was going to go back in and tinker with it a little more, saying: “I’m going to take a moment when the dust clears to assess what people loved and what they responded to the most in this current release, and then I may go back and tinker a little bit [with ‘Avatar 3’]. We may go back and do a couple of moments here and there. It won’t be radical, but maybe fine-tune it a bit to emphasize that which people are responding to.”
We don’t know the film’s title or synopsis yet, but Cameron has given us a bit of insight into who the film will focus on, saying: “Lo’ak really emerged as a character that people went with. So I might find ways to…he’s already the narrator. I’m giving away something here, but this is OK. I think it could be intriguing for people to think about what’s coming. Jake was our voiceover narrator for movie one and for movie two, and we have a different narrator for each of the subsequent films. We see it through the eyes of a different character. Movie three is through Lo’ak’s eyes.”
Cameron also teased the fire element of the third film and revealed that two new cultures would be introduced, saying: “Fire has a symbolic purpose in the film and there’s a culture that is specifically around that concept. That’s probably saying too much as we speak.”
Cameron previously talked a little bit about the representation of fire in Avatar 3, saying: “To show cultures different from those I have already shown. The fire will be represented by the ‘Ash People.’ I want to reveal the Na’vi from another angle because, for the moment, I have only shown their good sides. In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we’ll have the opposite.”
The filmmaker went on to reveal that two other new cultures will be introduced in the next movie, saying: “You’re going to meet two completely new cultures in the next film. We met the Omaticaya, we met the Metkayina, and you’re going to meet two new cultures in the next film, and it kind of rove a little more freely around the world of Pandora to different places.”
Avatar 3 will hit theaters on December 20, 2024.