The Avatar: Fire and Ash trailer has just dropped, and from those two minutes, things are looking pretty exciting.
Pandora is as lush as ever, but there’s a wild financial story rearing its head too… Avatar 3 cost 45% less than its predecessor, Avatar: The Way Of Water.
WHY is Avatar 3 SO cheap?
With Avatar: The Way of Water costing an enormous amount to produce, some estimating its budget to be over $450M, Fire and Ash’s $250M budget has sparked concerns that the movie will turn out a rushed mess in comparison.
While some are reassured by two minutes of trailer footage, fans are right to be worried about James Cameron making half measures for his Avatar 3. How on earth did he get the price down so much?!
Bulk filming
A major factor in this cost saving is Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 being shot back-to-back, partly to ensure young actors looked the same across the two movies.
That means a lot of technology, sets, motion capture rigs, and other pricy pieces of kit that might otherwise have to be paid for twice could all be frontloaded into the cost of The Way of Water.
Tax breaks
Filming the Avatar sequels in New Zealand has been a pretty big boon for James Cameron. New Zealand offers tax rebates covering up to 25% of qualifying production costs, which reduces the net spend significantly.
Of course, this would have applied to Avatar 2 as well, but the tax breaks offered by New Zealand may well have been used to lower the supposed budget of Avatar 3 to a greater extent than the previous installment.
Technological advancements
Avatar: The Way of Water introduced revolutionary filming techniques never seen before. These techniques were already fully developed by the time Fire and Ash’s back-to-back filming had begun.
This means the third film benefited from improved workflows, better tech efficiency, and less need to have to invest in this tech as it already existed. From this standpoint, The Way of Water’s ridiculous budget laid the foundation for the rest of the sequels.
Production team experience
The Avatar production team are better at making Avatar movies now than they were before they made a single Avatar movie. Obviously. James Cameron is big on his team-building and artistry, so there’s a chance his team has found ways to reduce costs without compromising spectacle.
We’ll find out just how much the budget difference actually matters when Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theatres on December 19. Let’s just hope moviegoers don’t see a quality gap, or it bodes badly for the future of Avatar 4 and 5.
At least you can make a bit of money watching Avatar 3 when it’s finally out. Maybe then you can save up and show Mr. Cameron how it’s done.
