James Cameron's Avatar follow-up (as well as the next three sequels) are all filming key scenes in the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand, and while the recent batch of photos doesn't show off this landscape in any capacity, they do act as a reminder the country's unique aesthetics make for a perfect backdrop to sci-fi and fantasy films. Considering Amazon's recent announcement regarding LOTR, the timing for these photos' seems intentional.
In August 2021, Amazon announced the intention to move production for Hobbit prequels) having been shot there.
Amazon's choice to effectively abandon New Zealand has attracted some negative publicity for the tentpole Middle Earth show. Given the circumstances, it feels like the release of the Avatar 2 photos so close to Amazon's announcement was no coincidence, and is a case of some good-natured shade being thrown at the LOTR production team. Regardless of intent, the situation continues to illustrate just why the LOTR series leaving New Zealand feels wrong.
The decision to shoot portions of Avatar 2 and its sequels in New Zealand is an interesting one, especially considering that most of the first Avatar was limited to indoor studios. However, motion-capture technology has made huge leaps since 2009, and shooting outdoor mo-cap scenes is now not only possible but common in Hollywood productions. This has allowed James Cameron to use real-life locations and expand the world of his series in new and exciting ways. Exactly what role the New Zealand landscape will play in Avatar 2 - and how much of that landscape will be altered with CGI - is unknown, but knowing Cameron, the end results will likely be incredible.
With all of this taken into , Amazon's decision to pull Lord of the Rings from the country becomes even harder to accept. Not only will the highly anticipated series no longer benefit from the stunning vistas New Zealand has to offer, but this latest screen adaptation of Tolkien's work will have arguably lost one of the critical ingredients that made the films work so well. With major productions like Avatar 2 continuing to embrace the magic of New Zealand, it feels like a mistake that Lord of the Rings will no longer be.
