Academy Award-winning filmmaker James Cameron created history with his Avatar (2009) earning more than $2.9 billion and dominated the highest-grossing films of all time for more than a decade, with its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) ending up at third place in the list. Ever since last year's sequel with its stunning visuals, pathbreaking CGI and VFX, and innovative cinematography combined with flawless motion picture technology left audiences wanting for more, it came as a major disappointment around the world earlier this week when Disney shocked everyone by pushing the release dates of the next three films in the franchise.
- Massive disappointing news for Avatar fans, the next three sequels postponed - new release dates announced
- Avatar: The Way of Water creates a new record - another splash at box office! Here's the full story
- Avatar: The Way of Water faces new criticism from fans - James Cameron puts up a strong defense! Check out!
- Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron reveals his next ambitious project plans - here's what he has to say!
Disney moved the release of Avatar 3 well over a year from its December 20, 2024 release date to December 19, 2025. The studio giant also announced that Avatar 4 will not be coming out on December 18, 2026, but will instead splash into theatres three years later on December 21, 2029. The powerhouse movie studio also revealed that Avatar 5 will not be out as initially intended on December 22, 2028, but will instead be launched into cinemas in the next decade on December 19, 2031. With the release changes coming as a big shock to moviegoers around the world, producer Jon Landau compensated for the delay by sharing a glimpse from the sets of Avatar 3 and conveyed that the team is hard at work to bring better quality to the visuals.
Jon Landau posted a behind-the-scenes picture on Twitter and wrote, "Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025. (sic)" Although no statement has been issued yet by Disney for the delay in the Avatar sequels, the decision to postpone the films has come at a time when Hollywood writers have been holding a strike, which has also led to several productions temporarily being shut down.
Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025. pic.twitter.com/DrFX01qzTa
— Jon Landau (@jonlandau) June 13, 2023
