The previous two Avatar movies didn't exactly breeze by, but the run-time for James Cameron's upcoming threequel has been revealed, and it will be the longest entry in the franchise so far.
According to an official AMC listing, Avatar: Fire and Ash will clock-in at a butt-numbing 3 hours, 15 minutes. 2009's Avatar ran for 2 hours, 42 minutes, while 2022's The Way of Water was 3 hours, 12 minutes.
Press screenings and first reactions to Fire and Ash are still a few weeks off, but Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro has seen the movie, and it's safe to say he was a big fan.
“They are absolutely masterpieces for me. I know where [James Cameron] is going and it will surprise a lot of people,” the filmmaker said while discussing some of his favorite films with Video Club.
The big [creative] advance in [Fire and Ash] is just going to be greater character depth," Cameron said in a recent interview. "We're seeing new cultures, new creatures—all the same stuff you'd expect from an 'Avatar' movie, but the whole idea of this cycle of films is to live with these people and go on this epic journey with them. So I think it's not about, 'We're going to show you the best water [VFX] ever done'—but you get more into the heart and soul of the characters. And there's some very interesting new characters that come in as well. This is a journey over time. It will play out through movie three, into movie four and movie five. There's an epic cycle to the whole thing."
Avatar 3 will see the return of cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo and Duane Evans, with David Thewlis also on board as a new character named Paylak.
Fire and Ash has been hit with numerous delays, but is finally set to release in theaters on December 19, 2025. Two additional sequels, the still untitled Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, are in various stages of production and are expected to be released in 2029 and 2031, respectively.
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