Avatar 3

Avatar 3
Film information
Directed by	James Cameron
Produced by	Unknown
Written by	James Cameron Rick Jaffa Amanda Silver
Starring	Sam Worthington Zoë Saldaña Sigourney Weaver Stephen Lang
Music by	Simon Franglen
Cinematography	Russell Carpenter
Editing by	Unknown
Studio	20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release Date(s)	December 20, 2024
Running Time	Unknown
Language	English
Budget	US$
Preceded by	Avatar 2
Followed by	Avatar 4

Avatar 3 is one of four planned sequels to the 2009 film Avatar. The movie is set to be released in December 2024, nine years after its original release date of Christmas 2015. It will be shot back to back with Avatar 2.

Title

James Cameron has already hinted that no sequel will actually have "Avatar" in the title, as Jake Sully is no longer an avatar at the end of the first film; "Avatar 3" is most likely just a temporary title. Additionally, a November 2018 BBC article claimed that the title would be Avatar: The Seed Bearer. Cameron later clarified in a February 2018 ET interview that the title was one of many under consideration and the sequel titles hadn't been finalized at that time.

Plot

On April 20, 2010, Cameron confirmed that Avatar 2 will take place in Pandora's oceans and that Avatar 3 will explore more of the Alpha Centauri System. As the scripts for all four sequels were finished in 2015, that plot element likely changed; in a February 2018 interview with Collider, Jon Landau confirmed that the Avatar sequels would remain on Pandora and focus more on exploring its environments and cultures. It is intended that the plot be able to stand alone, though it will form part of a meta-narrative that extends from Avatar 2 to 5. Underwater elements will be a major aspect of Avatar 2 and 3, though they will also have some role in Avatar 4 and 5.

Production

After Cameron confirmed the sequel, he confirmed that the sequels would be filmed back-to-back, elaborating: “I am in the process of writing the next two Avatar films now. We are planning to shoot them together and [edit them in post-production] together, and we will probably release them not quite back to back, but about a year apart.” In October 2013, Sam Worthington confirmed that the three sequels would start shooting in fall 2014, however Weaver later stated that her shoots would not take place until fall 2015.

When asked about his involvement with the ongoing franchise in April 2015, James Horner stated that he would stay with it through its entire run "If I last that long". Tragically, James Horner died unexpectedly in a plane crash that June.

The film was delayed by six months in 2016, in part due to a scheduling conflict between Avatar 2 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi The film was delayed again on May 6, 2019 along with the other Avatar sequels. On July 23, 2020, James Cameron announced that all Avatar sequels are delayed by one year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new release date for Avatar 3 is December 20, 2024.

In September 2017, James Cameron expressed intent to start production on Avatar 4 and 5 after the release of Avatar 3, as part of the back-to-back production and release schedule of the sequels. Avatar 2 and 3 will be shot back to back and go through post production sequentially, in a "two and two structure" that will also be done for Avatar 4 and 5. On February 6, 2018, David Thewlis confirmed having a Na'vi character role in Avatar 3-5, having already done motion capture work for Avatar 3 in Los Angeles.

During promotion for Avengers: Infinity War, Zoe Saldana said that motion capture on Avatar 2 and 3 was "just about done", with pre-production starting afterwards on the live action portion. The New Zealand location filming will take place for six months. She mentioned overall production as approximately halfway done. On October 29, 2018, Sigourney Weaver reported that her filming for Avatar 2 and 3 was complete. On November 14, 2018, James Cameron confirmed that the main cast of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet had finished principal photography on Avatar 2 and 3.

In a February 2019 interview for Collider, Jon Landau confirmed that performance capture on Avatar 2 & Avatar 3 was complete, with some partial performance capture done for Avatar 4. He stated that live action filming would start in spring 2019 in New Zealand. This was further emphasized by Landau in another February 2019 interview with the LA Times, with the performance capture done for Avatar 2, 3, and parts of 4 described as "principal capture".

Cast

• Sam Worthington as Jake Sully
• Zoe Saldana as Neytiri
• Sigourney Weaver as ???
• Stephen Lang as Miles Quaritch
• Matt Gerald as Lyle Wainfleet
• Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge
• Dileep Rao as Max Patel
• Cliff Curtis as Tonowari (Metkayina clan)
• Oona Chaplin as Varang
• Jamie Flatters as Neteyam
• Britain Dalton as Lo'ak
• Trinity Bliss as Tuktirey
• Bailey Bass as Tsireya (Metkayina clan)
• Filip Geljo as Aonung (Metkayina clan)
• Duane Evans Jr. as Rotxo (Metkayina clan)
• Jack Champion as Javier Socorro
• David Thewlis as a Na'vi character
• Michelle Yeoh as Dr. Karina Mogue, a scientist
• Keston John as Va'ru

In other Media

During the initial announcements for Pandora: The World of Avatar in 2011, James Cameron stated that the theme park would include elements from the second and third movies. The park opened on May 27, 2017; approximately three and a half years before the release date of the third film.

Trivia

• Filmed with Sony Venice cameras on stereoscopic 3D rigs

External Links

• Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1757678/