James Cameron directed, wrote, produced, and co-edited Avatar, a 2009 American epic science fiction film starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver. In the mid-twentieth century, mankind colonizes Pandora, a lush livable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, to extract the valuable mineral unobtanium.
The mining colony’s expansion puts a local tribe of Navi – a humanoid race native to Pandora – in jeopardy of extinction. The title of the film refers to a genetically altered Navi body that is used to engage with the people of Pandora and is controlled by the brain of a distant human.
Cameron began working on Avatar in 1994 when he wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. Filming was meant to begin after Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic was completed, with a planned release date of 1999; however, Cameron said that the requisite technology was not yet ready to realize his vision of the film.
In 2005, work on the Navi language began, and in early 2006, Cameron began writing the screenplay and fictional universe. Due to a breakthrough variety of new visual effects, Cameron achieved in collaboration with Weta Digital in Wellington, Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million.
Other estimates put the production cost between $280 million and $310 million, including a $150 million promotion budget. The film makes heavy use of modern motion capture filmmaking techniques, and it was released in selected South Korean theatres for traditional viewing, 3D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and “4D” experiences.
After the success of the film, Cameron negotiated a deal with 20th Century Fox to create four sequels: Avatar 2 and 3 have wrapped principal photography and are set to hit theatres on December 16, 2022, and December 20, 2024, respectively; future sequels are set to hit theatres on December 18, 2026, and December 22, 2028.
Because New Zealand was less afflicted by the epidemic than other countries, production at Weta Studios in Wellington went rather smoothly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Worthington, Saldana, Lang, and Weaver are among the cast members who are anticipated to return.
