Avatar sequels stay on schedule
The Avatar movies are on track even if 1500 workers had to cobble it together from homes around Wellington.
David Conley, executive VFX producer at Weta Digital, has outlined how the Miramar visual effects team of 1500 laboured from home – some juggling homeschooling and other challenges – to not just meet deadlines, but also to attract new business.
He confirmed the Avatar sequels were on schedule, even if director James Cameron was working from Los Angeles and had to ‘‘move things around’’.
Work on The Lord of the Rings television series was also on schedule, Conley said.
The 1505-strong staff at Weta Digital had been preparing to work from home but the sudden change to level 4 lockdown in March was faster than expected. ‘‘We had to get everybody out in three days.’’
They did that, and within another few days of ironing out kinks, such as missing cables, the entire production was moved to homes around the city.
The Weta Digital IT team, with Spark, managed to get all gear working remotely and strict security protocols avoided any breaches, he said.
It meant the crew – minus the 0.2 per cent who left Weta Digital – were able to work from home throughout.
Amid lockdown, Weta Digital managed to secure work on a Los Angeles-based production that was still shooting there when lockdown hit. Details on the production are confidential.
Now New Zealand was moving out of lockdown, Weta was actively pursuing new work to bring to New Zealand. While most of Weta Digital’s work could be done locally, it would be a big help to get some select crew through the borders.
But it would be taking its lead on this from the Government.
Weta Digital staff would begin to return to the Miramar facilities on May 25 but it would be four to six months before they were fully back, Conley said.
Cameron’s first Avatar film employed more than 1500 people in New Zealand and injected about $100 million into Wellington’s economy alone.
The 2009 film was then the highestgrossing film of all time after earning a reported US$2.788 billion (NZ$4.075b) at the box office.
It was originally planned that Avatar 2 would be released in December this year, followed by part three in December next year, part four in December 2024, and part five in 2025.
New Zealand Film Commission chief executive Annabelle Sheehan on Wednesday told Stuff there were a ‘‘large number’’ of productions looking to come to New Zealand in the coming six months to a year, lured by New Zealand’s low number of Covid-19 cases.
‘‘We are in discussions with a lot of different international studios,’’ she said.
She could not reveal specific projects but said United States film and streaming services were interested.