Nearly two months into its theatrical run, director James Cameron‘s Avatar: Fire and Ash is approaching the finishing line. The movie hasn’t performed as well as it should have, and might conclude its run with less than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office. This might sound like a lot — it’s certainly enough to make it one of the highest-grossing films of all time — but it’s also around $1 billion less than the final worldwide haul of Cameron’s original Avatar, which remains the biggest film ever made. Even the franchise’s second installment, Avatar: The Way of Water, managed to gross more than $2.3 billion worldwide and become the third-biggest film in history. Avatar: Fire and Ash was supposed to be succeeded by at least two more sequels, but the film’s underperformance has cast a shadow of doubt over them.
In the weeks leading up to the film’s release, Cameron began downplaying the fourth and fifth installments, which had previously been dated by Disney. He cited budgetary constraints and a changing theatrical landscape as his primary reasons for wanting to focus on other projects, after dedicating decades of his life to the Avatar franchise. Produced on a reported budget of $400 million, the third installment isn’t only the lowest-grossing film of the trilogy, but it also received the weakest reviews. It’s now sitting at a 66% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Remaining on the cutting edge of visual effects, Fire and Ash repeats the narrative beats of its predecessors to frustrating effect, but its grand spectacle continues to stoke one-of-a-kind thrills.” It remains to be seen if the movie’s underperformance causes Disney to hit pause on the series, but the Avatar movies can’t be compared to other big-budget tentpoles in terms of box office.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Outgrossed This Sci-Fi Film Four Times Over
For instance, another sci-fi franchise was forced to shut down after its third installment grossed one-fourth of Avatar: Fire and Ash‘s $1.4 billion worldwide haul. The movie in question, Star Trek Beyond, grossed less than $350 million against a reported budget of $185 million — below the $385 million haul of J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek reboot, and the $467 million haul of Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness. Directed by Justin Lin, Star Trek Beyond brought back the cast of the previous two movies as their legendary characters. Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldaña, the movie earned positive reviews, but not nearly enough at the box office to warrant a follow-up. You can watch Star Trek Beyond at home and check out Avatar: Fire and Ash in theaters.
Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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December 19, 2025
- Runtime
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197 Minutes
- Director
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James Cameron
- Writers
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Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
- Producers
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Jon Landau, James Cameron