Director James Cameron‘s Avatar: Fire and Ash probably sealed its fate this week, when it secured only two Oscar nominations at the 98th Academy Awards. What this means is that it likely won’t see any bump in box office revenue going forward, as it struggles to build momentum. The movie opened to mixed reviews last month and has been dominating the box office for five weeks. But it recently surrendered the number one spot on the domestic chart to Zootopia 2, which has been playing in theaters for an even longer time. Avatar 3 is still trailing its direct predecessor, Avatar: The Way of Water, by around $1 billion, and is separated from the first Avatar by a massive $1.6 billion. Despite these recent setbacks, Avatar 3 has established itself as one of the highest-grossing films in history.
With a total box office haul of $1.3 billion against a reported budget of around $400 million, it’s among the 25 highest-grossing films of all time. The movie had a high bar to clear, with the first Avatar blockbuster being the biggest film ever made and the second movie currently sitting at number threeon the all-time chart. Cameron is also responsible for Titanic, which is the fourth-biggest film in global box office history, and among the three that he has directed to have made more than $2 billion globally. But Avatar 3 can celebrate a handful of major achievements, such as overtaking every movie in the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises, not to mention every James Bond film, and every blockbuster directed by Christopher Nolan.
The Avatar Franchise’s Future Seems Uncertain
For context, Avatar 3 has grossed three times as much as Bumblebee, the 2018 film that many consider to be the best installment of the Transformers franchise. Directed by Travis Knight — his upcoming movie, Masters of the Universe, just received a debut trailer — the film was headlined by Hailee Steinfeld and served as a prequel to Michael Bay‘s five-film arc. It earned stupendous reviews and is now sitting at a “certified fresh” 91% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Bumblebee proves it’s possible to bring fun and a sense of wonder back to a bloated blockbuster franchise — and sets up its own slate of sequels in the bargain.” The movie earned nearly $470 million worldwide, against a relatively restrained budget of around $120 million. It was followed by Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, whose underperformance has left the franchise in limbo. The Avatar series also seems to have hit a roadblock, with no confirmation yet about the two further sequels that Cameron had initially announced. You can watch Avatar 3 in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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December 19, 2025
- Runtime
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197 Minutes
- Director
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James Cameron
- Writers
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Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno
- Producers
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Jon Landau, James Cameron