James Cameron is ready to walk away from Avatar if Fire and Ash isn’t a big success
Released in 2009, director James Cameron’s film Avatar became the first movie to officially gross more than $2 billion. Then it took him thirteen years to get a sequel into theatres, so it wasn’t clear if the follow-up was going to be able to replicate that success. But then, sure enough, Avatar: The Way of Water also grossed more than $2 billion, paving the way for not only Avatar 3, or Avatar: Fire and Ash, (which is scheduled to reach theatres on December 19, 2025) but also Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 – which will be released on December 21, 2029 and December 19, 2031, respectively. With the release of the third film now just one month away, Cameron has confirmed that the existence of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will still depend on how well Avatar: Fire and Ash does at the box office. If the third movie isn’t successful enough to warrant a sequel (or sequels), he’s ready to walk away from the franchise.
Cameron crafted these sequels with a writers room that consisted of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (who worked on The Way of Water and Fire and Ash), Josh Friedman (who was assigned to write Avatar 4), and Shane Salerno (assigned to write Avatar 5). The cast of Avatar: Fire and Ash includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, David Thewlis, and Oona Chaplin, who takes on the role of Varang, leader of the antagonistic Ash Clan. Payakan, the space-whale / tulkun, also plays a part in the new sequel.
During an interview on the on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Cameron said (with thanks to SuperHeroHype for the transcription), “I have no doubt in my mind that this movie will make money. The question is, does it make enough money to justify doing it again?” He is “absolutely” ready to set the franchise aside if there’s no more demand for sequels. “I’ve been in Avatar land for 20 years. Actually, 30 years, because I wrote it in ’95. But I wasn’t working continuously on it for those first ten years. There was a brief flurry of interest in ’95, and then everybody said you’re out of your mind, and I shelved it for 10 years. Then, we got serious in 2005. Yeah, absolutely, sure. If this is where it ends, cool.“
While Avatar: Fire and Ash will leave “one open thread” unresolved for a potential sequel to pick up on, Cameron will finish the story by writing a follow-up novel if necessary.
Cameron has previously said that he even has ideas for a potential Avatar 6 and 7, if there’s still that much demand for the franchise. “They’ll be just far enough apart that they remain events, hopefully, in the lives of fans, of people who want to follow us, but not so far apart that it’s like there’s a generational difference between one movie. We’re fortunate we survived that, right? We got over that hurdle. So now we believe it’s going to come at the right pacing.“ In the meantime, he’s also planning Ghosts of Hiroshima and The Devils, and he’s working with Robert Rodriguez to make Alita: Battle Angel 2 happen.
Will you be catching Avatar: Fire and Ash on the big screen next month, and are you hoping there will be more sequels beyond this one? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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