- "Avatar" star Zoe Saldaña had a funny reaction to the news that the sequels will be delayed.
- Earlier this week, Disney announced that the fifth movie in the series will arrive in 2031.
Zoe Saldaña had a hilarious reaction to the announcement that "Avatar 5" has been delayed until 2031.
Earlier this week, Disney announced a new release schedule for its major franchises, Marvel, "Star Wars" and "Avatar."
"Avatar 3," which was slated for release next year, was pushed back by a year, and its following sequels will be pushed back accordingly.
Saldaña, who plays the alien Neytiri in the movie series, shared the news on her Instagram story, alongside the caption: "Great! I'm gonna be 53 when the last 'Avatar' comes out."
She added: "I was 27 when I shot the very first 'Avatar.'"
In response to the announcement, producer Jon Landau wrote on Twitter: "Each 'Avatar' film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect. The team is hard at work and can't wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025."
In 2020, director James Cameron said that "Avatar 3" was "95%" complete because it was filmed at the same time as "Avatar: Way of the Water," which hit theaters last year.
However, the CGI-heavy film still has a lot of work to be done in postproduction.
Ahead of "The Way of Water" last year, actor Edie Falco, said on "The View" that she thought the movie had come out already because she filmed her scenes four years earlier.
"I've been busy and doing stuff. Somebody mentioned 'Avatar' and I thought, 'Oh, I guess it came out and it didn't do very well because I didn't hear anything about it,'" Falco said. "It happens. Someone recently said, 'Avatar' is coming out,' and I said, 'Oh, it hasn't come out yet?' I will never work again because I said that."
If "Avatar 5" is released in 2031, it will premiere 22 years after the first movie in the franchise, which came out in 2009. Sam Worthington, who plays Jake Sully, will be 54, Sigourney Weaver, who has played numerous roles in the series, will be 81, and Stephen Lang, who plays the main antagonist Miles Quaritch, will be 78.
Meanwhile, the director and creator of the franchise, James Cameron, turns 76 in 2031.
Last year, Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter that he has plans for a sixth and seventh movie in the series, but would have to train another director to finish the franchise.
He also told Empire: "I think eventually over time – I don't know if that's after three or after four – I'll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I'm also interested in. Or maybe not. I don't know."