Producer Jon Landau has revealed that Avatar 4 filming is well underway, and that shooting of the first act has been concluded as James Cameron's sci-fi fantasy epic franchise continues to progress. Shooting on Cameron's four sequels to the most successful film of all time had been scheduled to begin simultaneously in September 2017, but the director pushed back the production of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 until the first two sequels had begun the post-production process.

“We’ve completed most of the first act of Avatar 4 and there were logistical reasons why we needed to do that,” Landau said, while speaking with Variety. “We’ve designed most of the whole movie for Avatar 4 but we haven’t actually filmed all of it – just the first act. We could not have delivered what people saw today, five years ago, eight years ago, nine years ago. We needed the time to take it to the level that we’re able to deliver to people today.”

Landau was addressing the media following a showcase event at the Busan International Film Festival, where he discussed the state-of-the-art technology that Cameron helped develop during the making of the four Avatar sequels, including Avatar: The Way of Water, which was shown off to the crowd via a 15-minute presentation of footage.

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Cameron also made an appearance, via video link, to talk more about the ecological message behind the film, and the high-frame rate projection which he is utilizing to further show off the world of Pandora. The director had previously announced full production of Avatar 4 had begun, when he made an appearance at Disney's D23 expo in September.

The original Avatar film broke box office records for the highest-grossing movie of all time, with Cameron knocking his own film, Titanic, into second place at the time. The movie was briefly supplanted by Avengers: Endgame in 2019, before a re-release saw the film reclaim top spot. Avatar is set in the 22nd century, around 2154 when Earth's natural resources were depleted. Because of this, humans colonize Pandora, a moon of a gas-giant planet, to mine Unobtainium, a valuable mineral.

The first Avatar film long held the record for the highest-grossing movie of all time, with Cameron supplanting his own film, Titanic. Avatar is set in the 22nd century, around 2154 when Earth's natural resources were depleted. Because of this, humans colonize Pandora, a moon of a gas-giant planet, to mine Unobtainium, a valuable mineral.

The colony expansion of the moon threatens the native humanoid population, known as the Na'vi, which is then infiltrated by a marine who remotely operated a genetically engineered Na'vi body, but assimilates with the culture and becomes part of the tribe.

Avatar 4's release date is currently set for December 18, 2026. Avatar: The Way of Water will be released on December 16, 2022. Check out the trailer below: