Avatar director confirms plans for franchise if film series ends after Fire and Ash

James Cameron has quite the plan in store for Avatar 4 and 5, should the franchise not continue after Avatar: Fire and Ash.

The writer-director has made it clear in the past that the third outing to Pandora must make a profit before the next film could be possible, despite Disney already confirming release dates for both.

Cameron told Entertainment Weekly that should Fire and Ash underperform, he will hold a press conference to reveal what would happen in the fourth and fifth instalments.

"I don't know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does," he told the publication. "But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out."

"Here's what it is. If we don't get to make four and five, for whatever reason, I'll hold a press conference and I'll tell you what we were gonna do. How's that?"

Though he may not need to hold a press conference anytime soon, with Fire and Ash crossing the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office after just one week in cinemas.

Cameron previous told Radio Times magazine that if the Avatar franchise were to end with Fire and Ash "that's OK", as it concludes "in a very satisfying way".

But if there were to be a fourth and fifth movie, he already knows where the story would go, including a six-year time jump that would feature Neytiri making her way to a dystopian Earth.

"I would love to make those movies," Cameron said. "But I’m a bit more pessimistic than I normally would have been."

His fear is that the media landscape has changed. "Cinema has become a few selected films that people believe will be an experience that’s worth leaving their homes for," he says. "Post-Covid and post-streaming, it’s a depressed industry right now. And it doesn’t seem to be bouncing back."

Read more:

• Avatar: Fire and Ash review – Another marvel of CG craftsmanship from James Cameron
• Avatar: Fire and Ash director James Cameron shares how this film about loss helped him process his "true grief"

Avatar: Fire and Ash is available to watch in cinemas now.

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