With the ongoing writers strike, it was expected that a number of productions would see delays. Just this week, Disney announced that several of their major titles would be pushed back, including future Avatar entries, with the third installment now expected in 2025. As a result, the rest of James Cameron’s films will see much later releases, with the fifth installment – once planned for 2028 – now slated for 2031. And Zoe Saldaña, who plays Neytiri in the series, has some feelings about these Avatar delays…
Zoe Saldaña took to Instagram to respond to the Avatar delays, writing, “Great! I’m gonna be 53 when the last ‘Avatar’ comes out…I was 27 when I shot the very first ‘Avatar.’” For reference, she and co-star Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) will still be relatively young compared to some of the other big names they’ll be working with, as director James Cameron will be 77 and Sigourney Weaver (Kiri) will be 81.
Considering Avatar 3 was already shot, its window is far shorter than the rest in the series. As of now, Avatar 3 will come out on December 19th, 2025, a delay of only one year – although fans were certainly eager to get back to the theaters, as they helped Avatar: The Way of Water pull in $2.3 billion worldwide and make it the third highest-grossing film ever (behind Avengers: Endgame and, yes, the first Avatar). Meanwhile, the delays for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are far greater, with both pushed back three years apiece and now hitting theaters (or however we’ll be watching movies at that point) on December 21st, 2029 and December 19th, 2031.
While the Avatar release delays are disappointing, it’s good to see that Disney will continue to support their development, something James Cameron had to sell the House of Mouse on when they snatched up Fox, telling them, “I said [to Disney], ‘You bought this from a bunch of guys at Fox who agreed to a three-hour movie,’ because that’s what we said we were going to do. We’re going to play the epic game.”
Are you disappointed in the Avatar delays? Do you think the added years will affect the cast and crew? Let us know below!