Avatar: The Way of Water Filming Locations: Where Pandora Scenes Were Made

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Avatar: The Way of Water Filming Locations: Where Pandora Scenes Were Made

Avatar: The Way of Water looks like it was filmed on an alien ocean planet—but the truth is even cooler: “Pandora” is a blend of cutting-edge underwater performance capture, giant studio tanks, and world-class VFX. Below are the real-world places that made the reef, the waves, and the Metkayina coastline feel real.

Quick takeaway: Most “Pandora” scenes were created in studios in California (Manhattan Beach) and New Zealand (Wellington/Miramar and the Auckland area)—then finished with massive VFX work.

Pandora is “made,” not “found”

If you’re searching for a single beach, reef, or island where Avatar: The Way of Water was shot… you won’t find it. The movie’s “locations” are mostly production bases where actors performed underwater (often holding their breath) and where filmmakers captured data to build Pandora digitally.

Think of it like this: the film’s real locations are less “tourist spots” and more like giant science labs for cinema.

A great explainer video to set the mood

Before we get into the map, here’s a short, high-quality breakdown that helps explain why water is such a big deal in the film’s design (and why the production needed specialized setups to pull it off).

1) Manhattan Beach, California: the underwater performance-capture hub

One of the most important real-world “Pandora” locations is Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County. This is where a huge amount of the film’s water performance work was captured—especially the sequences that needed controlled waves, currents, and repeatable action beats.

Key place: Manhattan Beach Studios / Lightstorm’s base

To make the water feel physically real, the production built and used massive custom water tanks in Manhattan Beach. These tanks were designed to create ocean-like conditions (waves, current, surface interaction) while still allowing cameras, safety teams, and performance-capture setups to function around the clock.

Key place: MBS Media Campus (Manhattan Beach)

The broader Manhattan Beach production footprint is frequently associated with the MBS Media Campus, a major studio complex in the area used for large-scale production work.

  • Best for: underwater performance capture, surface-action beats, controlled “ocean” conditions
  • Why it matters: water is unpredictable; studios let filmmakers repeat takes, control light, and keep actors safe
  • Pandora scenes it helps create: reef swimming, surface chases, waterline combat, rescue sequences

A moment that highlights how huge the production became

The Way of Water didn’t just impress audiences—it won major industry recognition for its effects work, which is tightly tied to where and how the movie was made.

2) Wellington (Miramar), New Zealand: the filmmaking village behind Pandora

New Zealand is a core pillar of the Avatar sequels. For The Way of Water, live-action work took place in New Zealand, and the broader pipeline relied heavily on Wellington’s film ecosystem—especially the Miramar area.

Stone Street Studios (Miramar, Wellington)

Stone Street Studios is one of the best-known production facilities in Wellington’s Miramar film hub. Even when much of Pandora is digital, large productions still need real stages for live-action components, set builds, gear staging, and practical elements.

Wētā FX (Wellington)

When people say “Avatar was made in New Zealand,” this is a big reason why. Wētā FX played a huge role in turning performance capture into convincing Na’vi characters, reef life, and (most importantly) believable water.

  • Best for: large-scale VFX production and refinement, finishing “Pandora realism”
  • Why it matters: water is one of the hardest things to simulate and composite convincingly
  • Pandora scenes it helps create: basically everything you’d call “the ocean of Pandora”

A behind-the-scenes look from the production (New Zealand era)

The Avatar films have a long production timeline, and behind-the-scenes posts from the team give a real sense of how much of the work is “built” in studios before it ever becomes Pandora.

3) Auckland area, New Zealand: Kumeu Film Studios and water-tank infrastructure

Beyond Wellington, the production also used facilities in the Auckland area. One name that comes up often in discussions of New Zealand studio infrastructure is Kumeu Film Studios, which is known for large water-tank capability and production space.

Kumeu Film Studios (near Auckland)

Kumeu Film Studios is a significant screen production complex near Auckland with stages, workshop space, and large water tanks. For a film obsessed with water realism, facilities like this matter because they let productions stage underwater work with more control than open water ever allows.

  • Best for: water-tank infrastructure, additional production capacity in the Auckland region
  • Why it matters: you can build a reef-like environment, control clarity, temperature, lighting, and safety
  • Pandora scenes it helps create: controlled underwater moments, training, testing, and staged water scenes

How the ocean scenes were actually filmed (the short, practical version)

The reason The Way of Water feels different from “regular CGI water” is that much of the performance was captured with actors physically moving in water, rather than faking it on wires on a dry stage.

What made it difficult

  • The waterline problem: the surface (air-water boundary) creates reflections and distortions that can confuse sensors.
  • Breathing bubbles: bubbles can interfere with performance capture, so productions rely heavily on breath-hold training.
  • Safety and stamina: underwater acting requires dive teams, spotters, and careful timing between takes.

What made it work

  • Huge purpose-built tanks: to generate waves, current, and repeatable “ocean” conditions.
  • Performance capture + VFX: actors provide the motion and emotion; VFX builds Na’vi bodies, creatures, reefs, and the final water look.
  • A tight studio pipeline: California capture + New Zealand production/VFX infrastructure working in tandem.

Can you visit these filming locations?

You can visit the cities (Manhattan Beach, Wellington/Miramar, the Auckland region), but the key “Pandora-making” spaces are working production facilities—so access is limited and tours are not guaranteed.

What you can do instead (still fun)

  • Manhattan Beach: enjoy the beach town vibe and treat it like “where the water tech happened.”
  • Wellington/Miramar: explore Wellington’s film culture and the wider region that supports New Zealand screen production.
  • Want “Pandora” as a place? consider the themed land Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (a different kind of “real-world Pandora”).

FAQ

Where was Avatar: The Way of Water filmed?

The production is strongly associated with studio work in Manhattan Beach (California) and New Zealand (notably the Wellington/Miramar and Auckland-area production ecosystems), with Pandora’s environments completed through extensive VFX.

Was Avatar: The Way of Water filmed in real oceans?

Much of the “ocean” performance work is widely described as being achieved in purpose-built tanks so filmmakers could control water conditions, capture performances safely, and repeat complex shots.

Is there a single “Pandora beach” you can visit?

Not in the normal filming-location sense. Pandora is a digital world built from captured performances, design, simulation, and compositing—not a single real coastline standing in for the planet.