“Avatar” Sequel Resumes Filming in New Zealand

The sequel of James Cameron’s sci-fi blockbuster movie “Avatar” has resumed filming in New Zealand on Monday, after the country ended its coronavirus outbreak.

The movie’s crew, including director Cameron and producer Jon Landau, was granted special permission to fly to New Zealand two weeks ago, despite the closure of its borders to keep the coronavirus out, which sparked some grumbling about unfair treatment.

They have been in quarantine at a hotel in Wellington since their arrival.

Landau revealed in a press statement that New Zealand had much to gain as the movie will bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars to the country.

The movie’s producer pointed out that the movie will is going to provide 400 job opportunities to New Zealanders.

“We’re going to spend, in the next five months alone, over $70 million,” he added.

New Zealand last week lifted all restrictions except border controls after declaring it was free of the virus, becoming one of the first countries in the globe to return to pre-pandemic normality.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1000"] A scene from "Avatar"[/caption]

“Avatar” Sequels Suspended Due to Coronavirus

Last March, Cameron has suspended the production on the “Avatar” sequels in New Zealand due to coronavirus, shortly before it went into a strict coronavirus lockdown.

Landau said in a press statement that they have decided to delay it and to continue working in Los Angeles, and to go there “a little bit later than we’d planned.”

“We’re in the midst of a global crisis and this is not about the film industry. I think everybody needs to do now whatever we can do,” added Landau.

Weta Digital visual effects company continued to work on the visual effects in the meantime.

Lightstorm Entertainment, Cameron and Landau’s production company, have been working on four mega-budget for the Avatar sequels.

It was originally scheduled for the second and third sequels of Avatar to finish shooting this spring.

Earlier this year, the release dates for the sequels were announced: Avatar 2 was scheduled for December 17, 2021, Avatar 3 on December 2023, Avatar 4 on December 2025, and Avatar 5 on December 2027.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="601"] A scene from "Avatar"[/caption]

The first part of Avatar was produced in 2009. It was directed, written, produced, and co-edited by Cameron, and was often referred to as “James Cameron’s Avatar” as it was first developed in 1994 when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the movie.

It is worth mentioning that the novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.

The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.

The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.

On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.

In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

[caption id="attachment_129901" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] coronavirus[/caption]

On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.

Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.

It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.

The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.

People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.