Despite the second film not even being out for a couple more months, work on the fourth Avatar movie has already begun, according to one of its producers.
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Speaking during a press conference at the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday, producer Jon Landau revealed that “most of the first act” of Avatar 4 has already been completed and filmed. While that may sound shocking, Landau said that there were logistical reasons that he didn’t get into that necessitated it.
“We’ve completed most of the first act of Avatar 4 and there were logistical reasons why we needed to do that,” Landau said (via Variety). “We’ve designed most of the whole movie for ‘Avatar 4’ but we haven’t actually filmed all of it – just the first act.”
Landau also spoke about what fans can expect from the future of the Avatar franchise, echoing past comments from director James Cameron that the future of the films will explore other biomes and environments on the vast planet of Pandora.
“We could not have delivered what people saw today, five years ago, eight years ago, nine years ago. We needed the time to take it to the level that we’re able to deliver to people today…“With each sequel, we’re going to introduce audiences to new cultures and new biomes. We don’t leave behind the cultures that we’ve met,” Landau said.
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Despite Avatar‘s sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, not releasing until later this year, the Avatar franchise as a whole has been busy at work. Filming on both the sequel and the third film began simultaneously in 2017, with filming wrapping in 2020. Since then, it seems as if the minds behind the franchise have already begun work on what’s next. With Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 having been already greenlit, though, and with release windows in mind for all of them, it isn’t too shocking to see the films getting underway early.