The issue is that, while New Zealand is reporting nothing but good things when it comes to the state of COVID-19 cases in the country, the borders are still closed. In order for the Avatar film crew to get back to work, they needed a waiver from the New Zealand government to get back in the country, which the production received. However, while the film production received the waiver, a lot of other industries inside New Zealand have not, which has some in the government making claims of “political favouritism.”