A salute to Pandora and the New Zealand screen industry

Critics have had mixed reactions, but movie audiences voted with their hard earned dollars:  on 4 January 2026 The Walt Disney Studios announced that 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: Fire and Ash had officially surpassed $1 billion at the the global box office. What everyone agrees on is the continuation of astonishing visual spectacle and the technical wizardry behind it.

“It’s our’s now,” RBA’s Cliff Curtis told Stuff’s Paddy Gower on the red carpet at the Wellington premiere.

Director James Cameron was full of praise for New Zealand - specifically, Wellington, where he and his family now live. I’d say more than half the people who worked on Avatar - so over three thousand people - live here in this city.”

“We’ve done so much innovation, generated so much new technology. It’s all possible due to the artistic and tactical pool that exists here in this city.

“This is where the biggest films get made, this is where the coolest films get made.”

Asked whether it was “a bit cheeky” to call Avatar a New Zealand film, Cameron said it was a fair comment. “It’s very much a New Zealand production, that’s been