Avatar Fire and Ash Australasian Premiere: “Work to be done to keep the film industry thriving in NZ”.

RNZ - Senior Journalist, KATE GREEN - 13 December, 2025

Director James Cameron, told RNZ on the red carpet that the turnout for the premiere was great to see. "I think it represents a lot of civic and national pride in the film sector here," he said. "We only have crews here because of the Aotearoa local filmmakers.”

But there was work to be done to keep the film industry thriving in New Zealand, he said. "We all have to work together to continue the success of our screen sector. We got hit hard by Covid, we've got to get young people into it, we've got to train them, we need training programmes."

When asked what to look out for in the films, Australian Sam Worthington said - "People here [in NZ] are extremely talented, otherwise a movie like Avatar wouldn't film down here."

Cameron said he would love to see the government revisit the rebate scheme. Although eligibility was expanded in November, he said it was still "not enough". Finance Minister Nicola Willis said at the time [of the announcement] the updates would empower the screen sector to attract a broader range of productions.