After more than a decade of development, the fact that Avatar: The Way of Water actually made it to the screen was something of a miracle. A lot of people wondered if we would ever see the long-awaited sequels, but the fact that we got the first one, and that Avatar 2 was a massive hit, seemed to make the rest all but assured. However, yesterday we learned that the wait is far from over. The other three Avatar movies are still happening, but they were all just delayed. After the fact though, franchise producer Jon Landau shared an optimistic update.
The House of Mouse performed the company's semi-regular release date shuffle and now several upcoming Disney movies have new release dates. While Deadpool 3 actually moved up the calendar, several other projects including multiple Marvel and Star Wars projects were delayed, but Avatar actually faired the worst. All three remaining movies in the series saw their release dates pushed back, with even the already-filmed third installment being delayed a year. Later on, Jon Landau took to Instagram to assure fans that making the movies as good as they can be is the reason for the delay and that everybody is working hard on the next film as we speak. It would seem that these movies are just so epically big that the delay could not be avoided. Check out the post:
The delays of the fourth and fifth movies probably aren't all that shocking, as those flicks haven’t begun production. We don’t even know when that will happen for sure at this point. With all the delays that the second installment went through, it would be a shock to see those movies hit their previous dates without incident. But considering that the threequel was filmed alongside The Way of Water, there was perhaps an expectation that it would meet its 2024 release date without any additional incident. Some of us even hoped the third outing could be released earlier than planned.
Considering that all three remaining movies saw the same delay, the issue in this case seems to be that James Cameron and company underestimated how long the post-production process would take for each movie. Now, all three films will have an additional year to work, which, considering that every single moment of screen time requires extensive CGI work, is probably for the best. Let's hope Jon Landau, James Cameron and co. make the most of their time.
We’ve heard stories about post-production work being rushed, the digital effects houses doing it being overworked, and the films suffering as a result. While fans of the Pandora-set series are certainly not happy about a delay, Avatar: The Way of Water's ending likely has everybody excited for more. Odds are they would be even less happy by a subpar film, so this decision is likely an overall positive. Disney certainly wouldn’t have pushed back the release unless it was seen as necessary.
The result, however, is that the franchise completion has been pushed back by years, with Avatar 5 now set to open in December 2031. It will be eight years from now before we actually see the end of this story. And that assumes that it (and the fourth film) aren’t delayed further, which could very well happen. Avatar will be more than 20 years old before it is done, and Jon Landau seems sure it all be worth the wait.
