Fans of James Cameron’s Avatar franchise have celebrated a divisive new update about the forthcoming third entry.
The effects-heavy sci-fi film, titled Avatar: Fire and Ash, will be released later this year. Earlier this week, Cameron issued an update regarding the film’s runtime, with the previous entry, 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, having a hefty duration of three hours and 12 minutes.
Speaking to Empire magazine, Cameron reflected: “In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie two. The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’”
“Movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2.”
Despite its controversial runtime, The Way of Water was a huge financial success, and currently ranks as the third highest-grossing movie of all time.
While some viewers have claimed that the promise of an even lengthier runtime for Avatar 3 has put them off seeing it, many fans of the franchise celebrated Cameron’s proclamation.
“Keep me in the cinema for 5 hours if you want,” one person wrote on X/Twitter.
“Music to my motherf***ing ears,” another wrote. “You take as long as you need to tell us your story, Papa Jim. We’ll be there, and our asses will STAY seated.”
“James you can make it 5 hours man we don’t mind,” someone else commented.
Another joked: “Looking forward to the final AVATAR being a week long film.”
The Avatar franchise is set on the planet Pandora, and follows a war between the human military and a native people known as the Na’vi. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver star.
In a three-star review of The Way of Water, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Avatar: The Way of Water is, once again, a gauntlet thrown down at the feet of the industry.
“I can’t say that I cared all that much about its story, its themes, or its characters, but its unimpeachable effects work made it feel like I’d locked eyes with the future. It’s an achievement of such technological clarity that I’d instantly buy any flatscreen TV that was showing it in Currys.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to be released in cinemas on 19 December 2025.
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