Avatar 3 to launch by end of 2025, needs 2 years for post-production, James Cameron says

James Cameron will spend two years on "post-production" for Avatar 3.

The 69-year-old filmmaker has given an update on the upcoming movie — which follows last year's Avatar: The Way of Water — and after its release was delayed, he is targeting a launch by the end of 2025.

Speaking at a breakfast for TV New Zealand, he said: "We're into a very hectic two years of post-production right now, so it'll be Christmas of '25."

Earlier this year, Cameron offered a hint of what fans can expect from the next sequel as he pushes on with plans to have five films in the blockbuster series.

He told Deadline: "Fire has a symbolic purpose in the film and there's a culture that is specifically around that concept. That's probably saying too much as we speak."

Disney previously announced the next three movies in the sci-fi franchise have been delayed by a year, with Avatar 3 coming on Dec 19, 2025, while Avatar 4 will follow four years later, with Avatar 5 expected on the same date in 2031, a whole 22 years after the first movie dropped in 2009.

Zoe Saldana — who voices Neytiri in the films — is dismayed at how old she will be in the last movie.

Taking to her Instagram Story over the summer, the 44-year-old actress wrote: "Great! I'm gonna be 53 when the last Avatar comes out [shocked face emoji].

"I was 27 when I shot the very first Avatar."

Her co-star Sam Worthington, 46, who plays Jake Sully, will be 55.

Avatar producer Jon Landau announced 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."

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