James Cameron Says "Avatar 3" on Track for 2025 Release Date; “Hectic” Two Year Post-Production Process Underway

Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker James Cameron has opened up about post-production on “Avatar 3″ and described the situation as “Hectic”. 

During a recent New Zealand press conference moderated by 1News chief correspondent John Campbell, Cameron  announced New Zealand as his main production hub, sharing his plan to make movies there “indefinitely” and revealing that he will finally become a New Zealand citizen in 2024. 

Cameron has been working in New Zealand since 2005, when the first “Avatar” movie started development.

“We’re into a very hectic two years of post-production right now,” Cameron confirmed when asked about “Avatar 3”. “So it will be Christmas of 2025.”

Disney announced in June that the three upcoming “Avatar” sequels were being pushed back on the release calendar yet again, extending the franchise into 2031. 

The studio, which acquired the franchise after its merger with Fox, had initially planned to release the additional “Avatar” sequels two years apart from one another, with the third movie arriving in 2024. But now “Avatar 3” is opening on December 19, 2025; “Avatar 4” on December 21, 2029; and “Avatar 5” onDecember 19, 2031. 

Based on this timeline, the final “Avatar” movie will premiere 22 years after the original 2009 blockbuster.

The second “Avatar” movie, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” opened in theaters in December 2022, 13 years after the original movie broke box office records to become the highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.9 billion (unadjusted for inflation). 

Cameron has teased that “Avatar 3” will introduce a more antagonistic race of Na’vi. 

Franchise producer Jon Landau told Empire magazine earlier this year that group is the Ash People, described by the publication as “an aggressive, volcanic race” of Na’vi whose leader is Varang, played by “Game of Thrones” alum and Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Oona Chaplin.

At the New Zealand press conference, Cameron promised that all the remaining “Avatar” movies (plus any other project he plans to helm) will shoot in the country.

“It brings so much into the economy here, it brings so much prestige to the country culturally, and it’s an opportunity for so many young people coming up to think of themselves as empowered on the world stage. We can do it here,” Cameron said.