When films are shot back-to-back, one of the big advantages is the saving of money. Even so, they can still get hideously expensive.
New Line made a big gamble when they spent $281 million to make “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, that paid off with a film series that earned $3 billion worldwide total. The $745 million spent to make “The Hobbit” trilogy also paid off with just under $3 billion worldwide.
Both films were shot in New Zealand where James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels have also been filming. Cameron is no stranger to massive budgets, making the first film in that series back in 2009 for around $237 million.
Now, Deadline is reporting that the combined budget of the upcoming “Avatar” sequels is over $1 billion – essentially the new films will cost a bit over a quarter of a billion dollars each. While that’s not a big jump from the first, any studio investing in four costly sequels to a decade old film is a risk.
The talk came from an article about how the New Zealand Film Commission has protocols in place to potentially allow film and TV productions to restart in the country with some already underway. However the film’s team is reportedly not back in New Zealand yet and have been continuing work at a virtual production facility in California.
The first of the sequels is currently targeting a December 2021 release.
