James Cameron's long-awaited Avatar sequels have become the latest big Hollywood productions to shut down amid the ongoing spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). Producer Jon Landau confirmed the production delay to The New Zealand Herald. Filming was taking place in and around Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand.

Landau said he doesn't know for sure when production will resume. "I think that's an honest truth," he said. "We're in the midst of a global crisis and this is not about the film industry. I think everybody needs to do now whatever we can do, as we say here, to flatten the [coronavirus] curve."

While filming might have paused, Landau said he's hopeful the digital effects team at Weta can continue working on the project at this time. Landau said the filmmakers are looking to send more footage to Weta for digital effects during the filming downtime.