Academy Award-winning director James Cameron during a video conference discussion with Hollywood superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger for the 2020 Austrian World Summit revealed the progress on his upcoming Avatar sequels. Speaking to Arnold, the blockbuster Hollywood filmmaker said, "We’re 100% complete on Avatar 2 and sort of 95% complete on Avatar 3." He also revealed that the team is at present working on filming the remainder of the live-action portions. 

Cameron emphasized that "about four and a half months" of production on the Avatar films was lost due to the COVID-19 outbreak, which he said, "hit us like it hit everybody, it hit us hard." As already known, Avatar 2's release has been "rolled around a full year" due to the pandemic lockdowns, as announced earlier in July. Disney pushed all the Avatar sequels, starting with Avatar 2 announced for a December 16, 2022 theatrical release, followed by Avatar 3 on December 20, 2024. Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are planned for releases in 2026 and 2028. 

Cameron went on to praise New Zealand’s management of the coronavirus outbreak, saying, "We’re very lucky in that we chose this as our production site years ago. We made the first film here in New Zealand and it turns out to be ranking first or second best country in the world for its COVID response." Cameron along with producer Jon Landau returned to New Zealand in June to once again resume production after it was halted by the COVID-19 outbreak in March. Special dispensation was given to 55 crew members, who were working on the upcoming sequels, before they were allowed to enter the country. Cameron told Schwarzenegger, "We’re able to operate. We’re able to shoot and have a more or less normal life here. We were very fortunate, so I don’t see any roadblocks to us getting the picture finished, getting both pictures finished." 

James Cameron will be bringing Avatar 2 out in theatres after more than a decade as Avatar released in 2009 held the top spot for the highest-grossing film of all-time, which was surpassed last year by Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame. Upon being asked for details on the films, the Titanic director said, "I can’t tell you anything about the story." He added,"I believe in the mystery and the great reveal." Below is the full video of their discussion with the chat about the Avatar films coming up at around the 9:30 mark: