- Cameron screens new film in its current state to select audience
- “maybe the best of the three so far”
- 1000 people employed in Wellington working on franchise
Director James Cameron has revealed some early first reactions to the third instalment of his blockbuster franchise, Avatar.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, the sequel to 2022’s The Way of Water, is set for release in December 2025 but has already been screened in its current state to a select audience.
Read more: Everything we know about Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Avatar franchise has so far generated over $5.2 billion worldwide, positioning it as the 13th-highest-grossing film series of all time. The first two films make up the first and third highest grossing films of all time, separated only by Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Read more: Josh Gad was denied Avatar role for looking like a Smurf
Based on audience feedback from the special screening, Fire and Ash also appears poised for major success.
Audience Reaction to Avatar: Fire and Ash
In an interview with Stuff, Cameron revealed how the response had been the best of all three films so far.
“I’ve shown it to a few selected people and the feedback has been it’s definitely the most emotional and maybe the best of the three so far. We’ll find out, you know, but I feel pretty good about it. And the work is exceptional from the actors. It’s pretty heart-wrenching in a good way.”
Fire and Ash is now in the post-production phase and Cameron already has the fourth and fifth instalments written and “roughly designed”.
“We’re in very good shape on it. I think we’ve got about 1000 people employed, mostly here in Wellington right now, and hopefully we’ll roll right over into four and five from that”.
Future Instalments
The third film marks the halfway point in the Avatar film series and filming for the remainder of the franchise is expected to stretch for another five or six years. Avatar 4 is planned for release in December 2029 and Avatar 5 in December 2031.
Cameron commented on producing sequels, speaking to Empire, he said “It’s a tricky thing. We could be getting high on our own supply here, and everybody who looks at it goes, ‘**** that’s not what I signed up for”
“But if you’re not making brave choices, you’re wasting everybody’s time and money. That alone is not sufficient to create success, but it’s necessary. You’ve got to break the mold every fricking time”.
Avatar: Fire and Ash will hit theaters on 19 December, 2025. In the meantime, Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are both available to stream on Disney+.
