James Cameron’s brilliant movie sequels have often caused problems for their franchises, but this won’t be an issue when Avatar: Fire and Ash rolls around this year. Scheduled to hit theaters on December 19, 2025, Avatar: Fire and Ash will be third instalment in the Avatar film series, following on from 2009’s Avatar and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Legendary filmmaker James Cameron is leading the charge on all the Avatar movies, meaning this vibrant, relevant, and innovative franchise will avoid a huge problem that has befallen others Cameron has been involved with.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The first teaser trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash released in July 2025, attached to the theatrical releasee of Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The trailer brought us back to Pandora and caught up with Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and more as they come face-to-face with a new tribe of Na’vi, led by Varang (Oona Chaplin). Avatar: Fire and Ash seems to be just as, if not more intense and visually-spectacular than its predecessors – surely aided by James Cameron’s continued involvement in the Avatar film series.
James Cameron’s Sequels Often Hurt Major Movie Franchises
Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, James Cameron became a celebrated filmmaker of science fiction and action projects, and became known as the man to call if you wanted a movie sequel done right. Cameron’s feature directorial debut was 1982’s Piranha II: The Spawning, though he’d rather you forget that movie and consider 1984’s The Terminator to be his first. Following The Terminator, Cameron wrote and directed some of the most iconic movie sequels in history, including 1985’s Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1986’s Aliens, and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
James Cameron delivering a strong sequel in an established movie franchise was often something bittersweet. In the cases of the Terminator, Alien, and Rambo franchises, Cameron’s successes were incredibly hard to live up to, and subsequent sequels’ directors failed time and again, so Cameron’s movies ultimately hurt their overall franchises. Following Terminator movies directed by Jonathan Mostow, McG, Alan Taylor, and Tim Miller failed to meet Cameron’s success, while Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection were huge disappointments for Ridley Scott’s original franchise, and all other Rambo movies received a mixed-to-overwhelmingly negative response.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Aliens are considered two of the strongest movie sequels of all time, thanks to James Cameron’s writing and direction. In 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water joined their ranks as the perfect sequel to the original Avatar movie, receiving a positive response and grossing a whopping total of $2.32 billion at the global box office, making it the third-highest-grossing movie of all time. Avatar: Fire and Ash and the upcoming Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, also to be directed by James Cameron, have the chance to continue this success where Cameron’s previous franchise’s didn’t.
Avatar 3, 4, and 5 Will All Benefit From James Cameron’s Own Direction
The Terminator, Alien, and Rambo franchises surely would have produced many more successful instalments if James Cameron had stuck around after delivering iconic sequels. The Avatar franchise will be proof of this, as all four sequels to the original movie will be co-written and directed by James Cameron, meaning his esteem and experience with prestige filmmaking will be infused into every corner of the vibrant world of Avatar. This means Avatar: Fire and Ash, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5 won’t have the chance to falter under the weight of Cameron’s success, as this will just continue into the franchise’s future.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is on track to match, or even beat, the success of its two predecessors, and Avatar 4 and 5 are expected to do much the same when they release – currently scheduled for 2029 and 2031, respectively. With animated spinoffs and franchise expansion planned, too, the Avatar franchise will only continue to grow and reach higher and higher successes under Cameron’s watchful eye. With a message of global environment preservation and interpersonal connection between humanity and nature, the Avatar franchise is a passion project for Cameron, so not a series he’ll be abandoning anytime soon.
2009’s Avatar is currently the highest-grossing movie of all time, achieving a box office total of $2.923 billion after its 2021 re-release. Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame from 2019 is a close second with $2.797 billion at the box office, but Avatar: The Way of Water is close behind. Avatar: Fire and Ash, scheduled to hit theaters this December, could blow them all out the water, continuing James Cameron’s success and ensuring the franchise fares well for years to come.
Are you excited for Avatar: Fire and Ash? Let us know in the comments!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Crunchyroll -
Image Courtesy of Disney+
