Avatar: Fire and Ash Launches to $345 Million at the Global Box Office, but Will It Do Well Enough for James Cameron to Make Avatar 4?

Avatar: Fire and Ash has launched to a immense $345 cardinal astatine the planetary container office, which is capable to unafraid the 2nd largest opening play of 2025 truthful far. But it’s down importantly connected its predecessor Avatar: The Way of Water, and present determination are questions implicit whether James Cameron volition get to recognize his imaginativeness and marque Avatar 4 and 5.

Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash opened to $88 cardinal successful North American theaters, but arsenic with erstwhile Avatar movies, the large wealth came internationally, with $257 million. In total, Avatar: Fire and Ash is down lone Disney’s ain Zootopia 2, which earned conscionable shy of fractional a cardinal dollars implicit the aforesaid motorboat period.

Avatar: Fire and Ash’s opening is down importantly connected that of its predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water, which saw a immense $435 cardinal during its motorboat play successful 2022. But an encouraging motion came from China, wherever $57.6 cardinal came successful for Fire and Ash, ever truthful somewhat supra The Way of Water’s opening haul 3 years ago.

The question present is whether Avatar: Fire and Ash volition bask the staying powerfulness astatine theaters its predecessors did. The Avatar films thin to commencement beardown but past prime up steam implicit the holidays, pulling successful hundreds of millions week connected week. Will Avatar: Fire and Ash bash the same?

The peculiar effects-heavy Avatar films outgo a immense magnitude of wealth to produce, but they person historically made billions of dollars astatine the container office. Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of each clip (not adjusted for inflation), and has earned a staggering $2.9 cardinal crossed respective theatrical runs. (Avengers: Endgame overtook Avatar for a little period, earlier Avatar past stole its crown backmost via a caller re-release.) Avatar: The Way of Water earned $2.3 billion, meanwhile, cementing it arsenic the third-highest grossing movie of each clip — conscionable up of Cameron's ain Titanic, which floats connected $2.2 billion.

The unit is connected Avatar 3 to present for Disney truthful creator James Cameron tin merchandise Avatar 4 and 5 implicit the adjacent six years. Avatar 4 is down for merchandise connected December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 owed retired December 19, 2031. Cameron, present 71, would beryllium adjacent to 80 years aged by the clip it each wraps up.

But Cameron has sounded words of caution recently. Speaking connected The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron admitted helium was feeling tense astir Avatar: Fire and Ash’s container bureau performance, and was mindful of the “forces” moving against theatrical releases successful 2025. There’s the imaginable for “sequelitis,” Cameron noted. "People thin to disregard sequels unless it’s the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie and you privation to spot what happens to everybody, which successful my caput this is — this is the culmination of a communicative arc, but that whitethorn not beryllium however the nationalist sees it.” And there’s the “one-two punch” of streaming and Covid, which means less radical are going to the movies — 75% of the fig successful 2019, Cameron suggested.

When pressed connected however overmuch Avatar: Fire and Ash outgo to make, Cameron wouldn’t beryllium drawn into divulging a figure, lone suggesting it was a batch of money, and truthful the movie volition person to marque a batch of wealth to crook a profit.

“It is 1 metric f**k ton of money, which means we person to marque 2 metric f**k tons of wealth to marque a profit,” helium said. “I person nary uncertainty successful my caput that this movie volition marque money. The question is, does it marque capable wealth to warrant doing it again?”

Fans queue up to ticker Avatar: Fire and Ash successful Shanghai, China connected December 21, 2025. Photo by CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

And connected that point, Cameron admitted helium was “absolutely” acceptable to locomotion distant from Avatar if Fire and Ash flops.

“I’ve been successful Avatar onshore for 20 years,” helium said. “Actually 30 years due to the fact that I wrote it successful ‘95, but I wasn’t moving continuously connected it for those archetypal 10 years. Yeah, absolutely, sure. If this is wherever it ends, cool.”

But what astir unfastened communicative threads?

“There’s 1 unfastened thread. I’ll constitute a book!” Cameron responded.

But Disney reportedly has a program to promote repetition viewings of Avatar: Fire and Ash successful theaters — and it involves 4 antithetic Avengers: Doomsday trailers.

Photo by CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].