James Cameron Knows How To End The Avatar Franchise If Fire & Ash Isn't Profitable

James Cameron took a full 13 years to make his first sequel to "Avatar." It emerged in 2022 in the form of "Avatar: The Way of Water," and despite some pre-release doubt, it did not disappoint. It became Cameron's third movie to cross the $2 billion mark at the box office, joining "Titanic" and the first "Avatar." So there's little doubt regarding the third installment, "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which arrives in theaters just before Christmas. But on the odd chance it doesn't pan out financially, the director still has a plan to wrap up the franchise.

During a recent interview on "The Town" podcast, Cameron spoke about his career and all about the "Avatar" franchise ahead of the release of "Fire and Ash." Cameron has long planned to make "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" as well, with a large portion of "Avatar 4" already filmed, amazingly enough. All the same, if the latest installment doesn't turn a profit, there's no guarantee that the fourth movie gets made. When asked about that, Cameron seemed very relaxed, explaining that he'll just wrap everything up in a different way:

"If this is where it ends, cool. There is one open thread. I'll write a book."

It sounds like there won't be a major cliffhanger or anything like that, with Cameron seemingly content enough to move on in the event that "Fire and Ash" doesn't live up to lofty commercial expectations. Backed by Disney, these movies are very, very expensive to make, with "The Way of Water" said to cost around $350 million before marketing. But it made $2.3 billion and is the third-biggest movie of all time, behind "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.79 billion) and "Avatar" ($2.92 billion) still standing tall as the biggest movie ever made.

If we assume that "Fire and Ash" is equivalently expensive, we're looking at one of those movies that pretty much needs to be a $1 billion success story to achieve any level of theatrical profitability. But to encourage Disney to put up the money for "Avatar 4," there needs to be a demonstration of audience retention, rather than significantly diminished returns. For what it's worth, "Fire and Ash" is currently tracking to open around $110 million domestically, per Deadline, compared to the $134 million put up by "Way of Water."

Cameron previously indicated that he'd be comfortable wrapping up the franchise after "Avatar 3." He has other projects he'd like to pursue, including an adaptation of Charles Pellegrino's book "Ghost of Hiroshima," as well as a movie based on Joe Abercrombie's latest novel, "The Devils," which his company Lightstorm Entertainment acquired the rights to. It could provide a natural way for Cameron to move on from the world of Pandora.

The director also previously suggested that he might not direct "Avatar 4" or "5" himself. After all, Cameron is already 71 and the fourth movie isn't set to arrive until December 2029, if it happens (and if it isn't delayed). "Avatar 5" is dated for December 2031. He'd be pushing 80 by then. At the same time, depending on how much of "Avatar 4" has already been shot, it's hard to imagine that money just going to waste. We'll see how it all shakes out, but either way, fans can rest easy knowing that Cameron will wrap up this epic saga, one way or another.

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" is set to hit theaters on December 19, 2025.