Jon Landau posts Avatar 2 set photo indicating a return to shooting

May 22nd 2020, 8:56am

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Jon Landau, the Oscar-winning producer of James Cameron's TITANIC, took to Instagram to show off a new photo from the set of AVATAR 2 and it came attached with a special message indicating that it's time to get back to work.

AVATAR 2 was one of many productions that had to go dark in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The sequel is shooting in New Zealand and they have become one of the first locations to implement safety standards that will allow productions to resume work if those standards are met. Jon Landau's Instagram post shows that the sets are all ready now that New Zealand’s government endorsed their health and safety protocols post COVID-19, allowing film and TV production to resume. You can check out the Instagram post below:

View this post on Instagram

Our #Avatar sets are ready — and we couldn’t be more excited to be headed back to New Zealand next week. Check out the Matador, a high speed forward command vessel (bottom) and the Picador jetboat (top) — can’t wait to share more.

A post shared by Jon Landau (@jonplandau) on May 21, 2020 at 2:47pm PDT

It was a little over a week ago when James Cameron indicated that AVATAR 2 could possibly keep its December 17, 2021 release date if production could resume soon. Although all live-action shooting had ceased, the team was hard at work remotely on all the various special effects for the project so production never truly stopped, it was just simply re-focused. Now that New Zealand has given the clear for productions to resume, any film shooting in the area can get back to work as early as next week.

California Governor Gavin Newsom revealed this week that we could learn as early as Monday the safety standards necessary to resume productions in the state of California, although L.A. County would have to still wait to get back to work as the plan is for the area to reopen its economy sometime before July 4. Los Angeles is one of the central hubs for film & television production, not to mention a huge money earner for the state that employs many so this news has been viewed as encouraging if the rest of the state can ease into production safely. Some reports suggest the standards revealed next Monday could get productions started again next week if they're ready.

Do YOU think AVATAR 2 will stay on track for its release date now that shooting can resume next week?