“Avatar 3” (officially titled Avatar: Fire and Ash) was in active live- action and performance‑capture production for a little over three years, from late September 2017 until late December 2020.

Core timeline

  • Principal photography and performance capture for Avatar: Fire and Ash began in New Zealand on September 25, 2017, alongside Avatar: The Way of Water.
  • Filming wrapped in late December 2020, which means the main shoot lasted slightly more than three years.

So if someone asks “how long did it take to make Avatar 3,” the clearest concrete part of the answer is: about three years of shooting, on top of several years of writing, prep, and technology development that ran before cameras rolled.