Talk of the impending Avatar sequels has been churning for an aching four years now, with approximately nothing – aside from Sam Worthington‘s self-proclaimed relief for when this franchise is put to bed “I’ll be grateful if it finishes” – resulting from the spectacular buzz generated of cinema’s most successful film. Today, however, word has been officially received that James Cameron will be transporting the eye candy splendour of Pandora to the visually arresting Middle Earth, or as IRL geography will have it, New Zealand.
“The ‘Avatar’ sequels will provide hundreds of jobs and thousands of hours of work directly in the screen sector as well as jobs right across the economy,” said New Zealand’s Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, according to Variety. Economic boosting, indeed. Though one can only assume that the tourist trail to follow will contain a little less of the Lord Of The Rings‘ magical hobbit hole-style hype, and maybe will involve a disenchanting trip to the CGI room or a visit of the epic green screen responsible for making Sam Worthington blue himself.
Incentives from the New Zealand government to film the overkill sequels Down Under proved to be a deal-maker for James Cameron and Twentieth Century Fox, as a recently increased 25% rebate on production costs has been made available for spending that soars over $412 million.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that around 90% of the franchise’s live action crew will be Kiwis, and an internship programme will be created to support the films and facilitate screen industry training in New Zealand. Similar initiatives put forward for the filming of the Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit trilogies have seen New Zealand’s screen industry flourish.
The original Avatar film of 2009 became the first film to gross over $2 billion; how much further the following films gross is a truly overwhelming thought. The films are slated to be released annually from December 2016.
