James Cameron has revealed that the technology required to finish the much-awaited sequel of "Avatar" is the real reason why the film has been delayed until Christmas of 2017.
According to Clapway, the award-winning director is still waiting for the technology he has been envisioning to use for "Avatar 2." If fans can still remember, the first film also suffered from delays for nearly eight years due to Cameron's insistence on perfection. It was not until Weta Digital, a New Zealand-based special effects company, had created the technology necessary to capture his vision that the production pushed through.
While he kept the details on what exactly these "new devices" are, Cameron let it slip that they will help him film motion-capture underwater. He reportedly expects that the inclusion of this updated technology will capture improved facial expressions of the characters. Additionally, a new system for lighting is being developed to showcase large parts of Pandora's jungle "in ways that it could not before."
In an interview with the Associated Press early this year, the director explained that "Avatar 2" would not be released until the end of 2017 due to complications in the writing process. He said that it was "very involved" and admitted that the film's initial release date was a tad "too ambitious."
"There's a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don't get when you're making a stand-alone film. We're writing three simultaneously. And parallel with that, we're doing all the design. So we've designed all the creatures and the environments," said Cameron in the interview.
Cameron explained that linking the films is important so that the audience would not be left hanging. "Avatar 2," which follows Pandora native Neytiri and ex-marine James Sully, is set to be released on Christmas 2017. Meanwhile, the third and fourth films are expected to come out on the same dates in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
