This week came the news that Disney had delayed much of its movie slate, with the “Avatar” movies heavily impacted.
Previously, the third film was scheduled to open in December 2024, followed by the fourth in December 2026 and the fifth in December 2028.
Everything changed the other day, with the third now arriving a year later in December 2025, while the other two films have each been delayed by three years and will now be released in December 2029 and December 2031.
Now those involved have started to react with actress Zoe Saldana, who plays the alien Neytiri, speaking in an Instagram Story.
The actress captioned the news, which sums it all up nicely: “Awesome! I’m going to be 53 when the last ‘Avatar’ comes out. I was 27 when I shot the very first ‘Avatar.’
She’s not wrong. The first “Avatar” was released in December 2009 when the actress was 31, but those involved had filmed it a few years earlier.
Meanwhile, producer Jon Landau wrote about Twitter in response to the news, “Each ‘Avatar’ film is an exciting yet epic endeavor that takes time to achieve the level of quality that we filmmakers seek and audiences expect. The team works hard and looks forward to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025.”
By the time “Avatar 5” comes out in 2031, director James Cameron will be 76, Sam Worthington will be 54, and Sigourney Weaver will be 81.