New Zealand-based visual effects studio Weta Digital has confirmed they have begun work on the four sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar according to Variety.
The company, who most recently did the acclaimed CG work on War for the Planet of the Apes, will be handling the animation and visual effects for the heavily CG animated feature which is aiming for more photorealism than the first film. Cameron himself says in a statement:
“What Joe Letteri and Weta Digital bring to these stories is impossible to quantify. Since we made ‘Avatar,’ Weta continued to prove themselves as doing the best CG animation, the most human, the most alive, the most photorealistic effects in the world. And of course, that now means I can push them to take it even further.”
Weta Digital executive producer David Conley says that they’ve already been doing preliminary work on the project for a number of years so far. Oscar winning VFX artist Joe Letteri adds:
“Avatar is the ideal type of film for us. Jim’s vision for the world of Pandora was always so much bigger than what we created for the first film. Helping him expand the language of cinema through new narratives set in such an expansive universe is the type of opportunity that rarely comes along twice. Projects like this allow everyone involved to push themselves to do their best work.”
Filming the Avatar sequels is slated to start filming mid-August with the first of the four movies scheduled for a December 2020 release.
