Avatar: Fire and Ash swoops into theaters this December and will almost certainly be a box office hit. Even at a time when it's harder than ever for Hollywood blockbusters to top $1 billion worldwide, $2 billion seems a safe bet for James Cameron's threequel.
2009's Avatar boasted a mammoth 162-minute runtime, with Avatar: The Way of Water clocking in at a lengthy 192 minutes in 2022. That didn't have too much of a negative impact on the box office revenue for either film, and the director has now confirmed that Avatar: Fire and Ash will be similarly long, with an expected three-hour runtime.
Talking to Variety (via SFFGazette.com), Cameron explained that he went back and added scenes to the movie of Jake reuniting with his Toruk from the first movie. That ended up having an impact on how long the movie is.
"[The Toruk] didn’t exist in 'Fire and Ash.' And I went, 'Oh, he’s got to go get the bird.' Come on! I was saving it for a later film. I was like, 'F**k that! He should get the bird. Get the Toruk,'" the filmmaker shared. "There’s something in Jake’s destiny that requires it, right?"
"So I just re-wrote it, and we went back and we shot two or three scenes around that concept, and I threw some stuff out and stuck that in. And we’re at three hours, big surprise!" he added. "But it works beautifully, and the actors were super-excited about that idea. It’s like, oh, okay, that feels right, you know? So it’s not set in stone. It’s a constantly evolving creative process. And that’s what keeps you vigorous and engaged."
That was probably a relatively easy process for Cameron because Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash were filmed back-to-back. A fourth movie is dated for December 21, 2029, with the fifth and "final" chapter set for December 19, 2031.
However, if the Terminator and Aliens director is to be believed, then neither movie is guaranteed. "The big swing in all of this is, do we make any money with Avatar 3? I mean, we’ll make some money. But the question is, what kind of a profit margin, if any, is there, and how much of an inducement is that to continue on in this universe? Or maybe we wait a while until we figure out how to bring costs down."
"Because production costs have spiraled over the last few years, especially in VFX. Everything’s gone up an enormous amount, and it’s starting to close out the type of films that I like to make."
"So there’s an argument for taking a pause and figuring that out," he continued. "There’s an argument for going out and doing some smaller, more personal film in the meantime, while that gets figured out. There’s an argument, in wild success, for us just launching and just going straight into [Avatar 4 and 5] and I figure out a production methodology where I have a bit of a hiatus where I can make another film."
Further casting doubt on those movies happening is the fact that Cameron views this third instalment as a conclusion, of sorts. While there's more story to tell, it sounds like Avatar 4 will get a time jump that makes it feel like a vastly different movie.
Based on past comments from Cameron, we can surmise that the plan is for the movie's kids to be portrayed as adults in the franchise's next chapters.
"Two and three really tell one big story," he pointed out. "And then ultimately, if I get so lucky and I make four and five, four and five tell one big story. So it kind of stops for a beat after the end of three. I don’t mean we’ll necessarily stop in production, but the story kind of stops and then it jumps forward in time a little bit."
With Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family.
The third instalment in the hugely successful Avatar franchise opens exclusively in theaters worldwide in IMAX 3D, Dolby Cinema 3D, RealD 3D, Cinemark XD, 4DX, ScreenX, and premium screens everywhere on December 19, 2025.