James Cameron's Avatar 2 and Amazon's The Lord of the Rings TV show could resume filming in New Zealand. Both projects are among those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and were forced to shut-down production when the virus took a turn for the worse in March. The Avatar sequel has been able to continue virtual production remotely while it waits for the go-ahead to resume its live-action photography in New Zealand. However, Amazon's Lord of the Rings series had barely started filming before the shutdown, so it's been stuck in a holding pattern ever since.
At the moment, Hollywood is hoping to resume operations sometime towards the end of summer. Even Disney is staying non-committal about setting a definite timetable for when its Marvel movies could begin filming again. Outside the U.S., countries like the Czech Republic have deemed it safe enough to get its movie and TV productions up and going again under their newly-instated health regulations. New Zealand has likewise taken steps to get filming in the region underway once more.
Speaking to Deadline, the New Zealand Film Commission has confirmed some film and TV productions "are already safely underway" in the country, in accordance with the health and safety protocols endorsed by its government. Those regulations include requiring productions in the country - including, the Avatar sequels and Lords of the Rings show - to register with portal ScreenSafe, as a way of allowing the Ministry of Health and WorkSafe to better monitor the coronavirus' presence and track those who've come into contact with infected individuals.
Of the pair, Avatar 2 is more likely to resume filming before The Lord of the Rings series. The latter was in the midst of shooting its first two episodes (with J.A. Bayona directing) when it stopped, but was already planning to go on a four to five month hiatus afterwards following its early season 2 renewal, even before the pandemic. It's not expected to jump right back into shooting either, and will probably pick back up where it left things in a few months from now. Meanwhile, Cameron and producer Jon Landau have continued to oversee the visual effects work on Avatar 2 throughout the shut-down and a pair of photos showing Cameron shooting underwater scenes for the movie was only barely posted to Twitter. Thing is, those pics were almost certainly taken pre-shutdown, so they shouldn't be perceived as evidence of Cameron resuming live-action photography just yet.
That being said, this New Zealand news is encouraging to hear, especially in combination with the report about the Czech Republic (where Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was filming, prior to the pandemic). The hope is these are the first steps of recovery for the global entertainment industry and will show how movies and TV shows can eventually resume shooting in other places, the U.S. included. Obviously, health and safety are the top priorities and Hollywood should take its time getting back to work, lest it rush things and lead to an even bigger setback. But if New Zealand is able to keep smaller production going safely for the next few weeks, it should pave the way for bigger projects like Avatar 2 and The Lord of the Rings to follow their lead.
Source: Deadline
