After Avatar: The Way of Water shattered all box office expectations (including director James Cameron’s own) to become the third highest grossing movie of all time by netting $2.32 billion worldwide, all eyes are on Avatar 3. During interviews promoting The Way of Water, Cameron revealed that he has pretty much shot the third movie alongside the second. As he works on its post-production, Sigourney Weaver reveals that they might be headed back to do some reshoots.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Weaver revealed that they may be heading back to fill in a few bits here and there, so as to help the movie flow better. She was quick to deny any knowledge about specifics, but emphasized that these are more pickups as opposed to completely new scenes being shot.
I know that in January, I go back and probably do some pickups, I don’t think there are whole new scenes to be shot. I think it’s going to be refining what [James Cameron’s] got now that he’s closing in on the edit, because he always has too much material. He loves to shoot. I wouldn’t even begin to guess of what we might be doing, but I think it’s just maybe going back to a couple of moments and giving him some footage that he didn’t get the way he wants to.
When quizzed further on whether she’s been lucky enough to see any footage, she was again quick to deny it, stressing that it’s all being kept a secret even from them.
No, it’s not that kind of thing, it’s top secret even for us. [Chuckles] And then, probably when I go back in January and do a day on it, they will show me 20 minutes of it, but otherwise, I’m just in the dark, just like everybody else.
Reshoots and pickups of this sort are fairly standard in the movie business. While some reshoots in the past have been a cause of concern and raise questions about the movie’s quality, pickups like the one Weaver is alluding to mostly help fill in the gaps between certain scenes. They’re often discovered in the editing process and generally take no more than a few days’ worth of work.
Avatar 3 is currently set for release on December 20, 2024. Avatar: The Way of Water will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning June 7, 2023.
