'Avatar 2' Releases Huge Set Photo to Mark the End of Filming for 2019 | 22 Words

It's been an entire decade since James Cameron's groundbreaking sci-fi spectacle hit screens and completely changed the game for cinema.  But, there's been a major downside - ever since Avatar's profound success, fans have been left in the lurch when it comes to a long-awaited sequel.

In the ten long years since its release, it feels like there's been promise after promise for a second installment, several teases, and scarce details, leaving many of us wondering whether it would even happen. But finally, after a fair few delays, it looks like some major progress has been made.

Here's everything we know so far...

Avatar truly changed the game for contemporary cinema.

James Cameron's sci-fi epic has long been hailed as having some of the most groundbreaking visual effects of its time - dubbed as the breakthrough in cinematic technology. 

And it's hard to disagree...

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 The visuals stunned viewers and left many of us unable to stop watching.

As you'd expect, a lot of money was poured into production.

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 The movie was officially budgeted at $237 million, though other estimates put the cost between an eye-watering $280 million and $310 million for production.

But there's no denying they got their value for money...

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 Audiences were captivated by the world of Pandora, and its success was reflected in its record-breaking figures which saw the movie rake in a staggering $2.79 billion in revenue at the box office.

In fact, it was crowned the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Until it lost its title to Avengers: Endgame, that is.

Avatar has proven to be nothing less than a cultural phenomenon, and people quickly demanded more.

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 So, as you'd imagine from anything that brought in the big bucks, a sequel was very quicky put onto the table.

It's been ten long years...

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 And we're yet to see any sign of a sequel hitting theaters.

And people have been getting impatient...

Can you blame them? After all, it's been a whole decade since we visited the captivating world of Pandora.

There have been several teasers and promises...

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 But on the whole, news seemed to have been fairly quiet, and details kept under wraps - begging the question whether the long-awaited sequel was even happening any more.

Until now.

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 Finally, in recent weeks we've been treated to some insight into what is in the works for the franchise.

And it's shaping up to be very exciting...

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 The first bit of huge news is that we aren't looking forward to just 1 sequel of the smash-hit movie, but 4. Yes, that's right. 4 sequels have been announced, meaning the franchise could run until 2027.

Initially, Avatar 2 was scheduled for release last year.

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 But the highly-anticipated movie fell victim to several delays, meaning the movie's release date was repeatedly pushed back.

Cameron previously said he's always planned for us to be reimmersed into the realm of Pandora.

But the process had taken much longer than first anticipated.

In fact, Cameron has been worried that people won't even care...

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"The thing that scared me most about making Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 was that the market might have shifted so much that it simply was no longer possible to get people that excited about going and sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers to watch something," he told Deadline.

But now, it's full steam ahead...

Production on Avatar 2 began in summer 2017, and since we've finally had some clarity on when we can expect it to land in theaters - keep scrolling for the official release date.

The movie is said to take place 8 years after the events of the original.

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 While Cameron has remained fairly tight-lipped on details of the plot for the upcoming movie, he did reveal in an interview with Empire, that a marital dispute between protagonists Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), is filmed from the perspective of their 8-year-old daughter.
"There's a three-page argument scene between Jake and Neytiri, a marital dispute, very, very critical to the storyline," he explained. "I wound up shooting it all from the point of view of the 8-year-old hiding under the structure and peeking in." So it doesn't take much to figure out the rough timeline for the new movie.

But now, we've been treated to a huge sneak peek.

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 A snap of a "massive mothership that carries an array of other sea-going craft in the sequels" was shared on the official Avatar Twitter feed last Friday. 

And with it, they revealed some very exciting news...

Filming for Avatar 2 has officially wrapped up.
"It's our last day of live-action filming in 2019, and we're celebrating with a sneak peek."

We've been treated to even more behind-the-scenes snaps.

This is very reassuring as, after getting bogged down with so many hold ups and delays, it confirms work is well and truly underway.

So, when is the movie's official release date?

Mark your calendars, as currently, Avatar 2 is due for release on 17 December 2021. Fingers crossed the date won't change again... In the meantime, keep scrolling to check out everything coming to Netflix this month. Perhaps you'll find your next favorite binge-watch...