MOVIE NEWS – While Avatar: Fire and Ash is still fresh in theaters, James Cameron is already fielding questions about the long-term future of his blockbuster franchise. According to the director, nothing is guaranteed when it comes to the next chapters of Avatar, despite the series’s continued financial strength. Cameron has also outlined what he would do if the fourth and fifth films were ultimately canceled.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has barely settled into its theatrical run, yet James Cameron is once again looking ahead. The filmmaker launched the Avatar saga in 2009, a film that not only redefined the use of motion-capture technology but also became the highest-grossing movie of all time, surpassing Cameron’s own Titanic.

The sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, arrived in 2022 and shifted the story from the forests of Pandora to its oceans, where Jake Sully, Neytiri and their children found refuge with the Metkayina clan. The third installment, Avatar: Fire and Ash, released ahead of Christmas 2025, once again demonstrated the franchise’s staying power, earning more than $540 million worldwide within its first few weeks. MovieWeb described the film as “enthralling” and “bombastic,” even if it fell short of delivering on the promise of a darker narrative.

During the promotional tour, Cameron was inevitably asked about what comes next. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he made it clear that nothing is set in stone. Avatar 4 is currently scheduled for a December 2029 release, while Avatar 5 is planned for two years later.

The director of The Terminator and Aliens emphasized that each sequel must justify its existence financially. “I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does. But every time we go out, we have to prove the business case,” Cameron said.

That caution is understandable, as the story of Jake Sully, portrayed by Sam Worthington, and his endangered family continues to draw audiences back to theaters. Still, Cameron addressed the possibility that Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 might never be made.

“If we don’t get to make four and five for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and tell everyone what we were going to do. How’s that?” he joked.

One alternative Cameron has seriously considered is a novelization. While Avatar is best known for its visual spectacle, the franchise is built on a deeply developed universe. At a certain point, expanding that material on the page could be the most effective option.

“There’s so much culture, backstory, and lateral detail in these characters that’s already been worked out,” Cameron explained. “I’d love to do something at that level of granular detail. There’s no real business model for it anymore, people aren’t reading, but it would be good to have a canonical record of what it was all meant to be.”

Cameron’s remarks follow the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, which debuted with the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in the franchise. Initially opening at 71%, the film has since dropped further, currently sitting at 66% based on more than 300 reviews.

Source: MovieWeb