New Zealand Increases Incentives for "Avatar" Sequels LOS ANGELES - Under an agreement between New Zealand and 20th Century Fox unveiled Monday, taxpayers in the island nation will pay for 25 percent of three mega-budget "Avatar" sequels in return for production jobs and other perks. The financial incentives - a reversal from a government official's previous stance - clear the way for Fox's delayed "Avatar" sequels, directed by James Cameron, to arrive in theaters in Christmas 2016, 2017 and 2018. New Zealand has long offered eye-popping incentives to Hollywood as a way to attract film productions that will create jobs, generate revenue and enhance the country's image as a tourist destination. The country pumped more than $200 million into the locally made "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movies and controversially rewrote a labor law to satisfy Warner Bros. But on Monday in the capital of Wellington, John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, outlined substantially deeper financial help. New Zealand will now return 20 percent of the production money Hollywood studios spend in the country in the form of rebates, up from 15 percent. Additionally, an extra 5 percent rebate will be paid to film productions that carry "specific benefit" to the country, Mr. Key said. Fox has promised, for instance, to hold at least one of the "Avatar" sequel premieres in the country and include a New Zealand tourism video on DVDs and Blu-ray discs. About 90 percent of live-action crew jobs are expected to be filled with Kiwis. Visual effects will be principally completed at Weta, the Wellington-based studio owned by the director Peter Jackson and his companion and business partner, Fran Walsh. "The "Avatar" sequels will provide hundreds of jobs and thousands of hours of work directly in the screen sector as well as jobs right across the economy," Steven Joyce, New Zealand's economic minister, said in a statement. Mr. Joyce had previously expressed skepticism about the idea of increasing the film rebate. The government "bowed to pressure," wrote The Dominion Post, a leading New Zealand newspaper, in its analysis of the "Avatar" announcement. Fox and Mr. Cameron, who now lives on a 2,500-acre farm outside Wellington, have not said how much they plan to spend on the sequels to "Avatar," which took in more than $3 billion at the worldwide box office in 2009, after adjusting for inflation. The agreement announced on Monday said Fox would spend at least $412 million in New Zealand on production. Mr. Key, however, cited billions in a Twitter post. "Fantastic news for our screen sector," he wrote. Means at least $1/2b will be spent in NZ. With an eye toward increasing New Zealand's own independent film industry, Mr. Key and his advisers also announced a grant program that will finance up to 40 percent of local films and television programs with budgets of between $15 million and $50 million. The grants will make the government part owner in these small films, giving taxpayers a piece of any profits. The courting of Hollywood by the New Zealand government has at times been controversial in the country, which has just 4.4 million residents, slightly more than the city of Los Angeles. But Mr. Key sees the film industry as a critical piece of efforts to create higher-paying jobs and bolster tourism. Indeed, visitors washed over the country following Mr. Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which prominently featured New Zealand's unusual topography.