'Avatar: Fire And Ash' is Cameron’s fourth film to cross the billion mark, following 'Titanic', 'Avatar' and 'Avatar: The Way of Water'. What does this milestone mean for a potential sequels?
It’s a new year for Hollywood, and despite a disappointing 2025 in terms of blockbusters and growing weariness over the Avatar franchise, James Cameron’s third instalment in the series has officially surpassed the $1 billion milestone at the global box office. All in the space of 18 days.
Avatar: Fire And Ash has grossed $306 million in the US and $777.1 million internationally thus far - with top earning overseas territories including China ($138 million), France ($81 million), Germany ($64 million) and Korea ($44 million).
The Walt Disney Co. on Sunday described the $1.083bn gross as “cementing another monumental achievement for James Cameron’s groundbreaking franchise.”
Avatar: Fire And Ash is Cameron’s fourth film to cross the billion mark, following Titanic, Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, and one of only three Hollywood movies released in 2025 to cross $1billion, following Lilo & Stitch ($1.038bn) and Zootopia 2 ($1.51bn to date).
The third Avatar instalment reached the billion-dollar benchmark at a slower pace than its predecessor, as 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water joined the $1 billion club after 14 days. For comparison, 2009’s Avatar achieved the milestone after 17 days.
Avatar ended up becoming the highest grossing movie of all time, earning $2.9 billion, while the sequel generated $2.3 billion.
It remains to be seen whether Avatar: Fire And Ash can surpass the $2bn mark in worldwide revenues. If it does, a fourth chapter in the series would be all but inevitable.
Cameron has previously stated that he has plans for fourth and fifth instalments, and recently joked that if Avatar: Fire And Ash underperforms, he would hold a press conference to reveal the plot details of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.
“I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does,” Cameron told Entertainment Weekly. “But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out.”
“Here’s what it is,” he added. “If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”
In our less than glowing review of Avatar: Fire And Ash, we wrote: “There’s no denying the eye-popping technical wizardry at play here, and no one is saying that this isn’t epic filmmaking. But impressive technological leaps don’t amount to much without an engaging – let alone new – story, and the audience risk becoming numb to the cosmetic backdrop if they feel insulted by an afterthought script serving up a reheated mishmash of disjointed plot threads. What’s crystal clear with this third instalment is that once you’ve seen one Avatar film, you’ve seen them all.”
