James Cameron Announces Avatar 4 Has Begun Filming

Though not in attendance at D23 Expo, Oscar-winning director James Cameron did send in a video for attendees to offer updates on the upcoming Avatar sequels. Cameron teased that work continues on the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water, calling it "a bit of an Odessy" but noting that "it's going great." While post-production continues on Avatar 2 however Cameron confirmed that filming continues on Avatar 3 and that production on Avatar 4 has officially started. Footage from the upcoming movie was screened at the event in 3D for attendees however and we've got a recap of what was shown here:

• A scene of Na'vi swimming on Pandora
• Na'vi in a lab watching an old video of Sigourney Weaver's Dr. Grace Augustine. Among the Na'vi watching the scene was a teenage Na'vi, potentially the young character that Weaver is now playing in the film.
• A new scene of a Na'vi showdown on the forests of Pandora
• A confrontation between Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington's characters, fighting about leaving because of all the dangers. Neytiri reminds him "This is our home!"
• Another scequnce of strife within the Na'vi, fighting because one was hanging out with an outsider.
• Finally, more scenes of Na'vi swimming on Pandora.

Avatar and the world of Pandora will return to theaters very soon however with a remastered version that will screen exclusively in movie theaters ahead of the upcoming sequels. The film was removed from Disney+ ahead of this to ensure more people could see it on the big screen.

Cameron previously confirmed that some filming had taken place on Avatar 4, but was being done primarily to shoot footage of the young actors playing Jake and Neytiri's children while they themselves were still young. 

"We mixed the schedules for 2 and 3 together, based on the types of scenes and the environments," Cameron previously told Variety. "I said, let's just treat it like it's a six-hour miniseries and we're only going to go to Frankfurt once. We're going to shoot all the scenes from 2 and 3 at the same time. That was more or less the motif. Actor availability was an issue as well. Anything that had to be done with a specific actor, we did all the scenes for 2 and 3 together — and a little bit of 4. Because once again, I had to shoot the kids out. They're allowed to age six years in the middle of the story on page 25 of movie 4. So I needed everything before then, and then everything after, we'll do later." Seems like later is finally becoming now.