Sam Worthington as Jake Sulley in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'
Having completed a week of release in theaters worldwide, director James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to pass a monumental global box office milestone. Despite a debut that many saw as underwhelming, the film seems to have gained momentum over the holidays, and is now tracking ahead of its record-setting predecessor.
Avatar movies tend to have extraordinarily long legs, and the third installment is no different. It has, however, earned a slightly muted response from critics, who've argued that it isn't as revolutionary as the first film, which was released in 2009, and the second, which debuted in 2022. Both the first Avatar and its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, are among the highest-grossing films in global box office history, which puts incredible pressure on Avatar 3 to not only do well, but literally set new box office records. The movie has now passed the coveted $500 million mark at the global box office; it probably needs to generate at least $1 billion worldwide just to break even, considering its astronomical reported budget of $400 million. Movies of this size typically need to gross twice their budgets to start turning a profit, and Cameron has admitted that the bar is extremely high for Avatar 3. The film's current domestic haul of around $140 million puts it above several past sci-fi movies on the all-time charts; Avatar 3 recently overtook Denis Villeneuve's Arrival and Dune, and has now grossed twice as much as George Miller's Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which tanked upon release last year. 'Avatar 3' Has Earned Solid Scores from the Audience The movie arrived in theaters just three years after Avatar 2 defied similar skepticism to emerge as the third-biggest hit in global box office history, with a lifetime haul of $2.3 billion. The first Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of all time, with more than $2.9 billion in the bank. Cameron has also directed the fourth-biggest film of all time, Titanic, putting him in a highly unique position. The filmmaker has suggested that he might be done directing Avatar films, after having initially announced a plan to make at least five. The third movie, which brings back stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, and Sigourney Weaver, is the lowest-rated of the bunch on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. It currently holds a 66% critics' score on the site, but is balancing it out with an encouraging 91% audience score. You can watch Avatar 3 in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates. 7 10 Avatar: Fire and Ash Like Follow Followed PG-13 Science Fiction Adventure Fantasy Release Date December 19, 2025 Runtime 197 Minutes Director James Cameron Writers Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno Producers Jon Landau, James Cameron, Brigitte Yorke, Jamie Landau, Maria Battle-Campbell 7 Images Close Cast See All Sequel of Avatar: The Way of Water .
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