James Cameron Had The Perfect Response To Studio Pushback Against Another Avatar Movie

Even in today's difficult market, James Cameron's "Avatar" series has proven its box office prowess beyond any reasonable doubt. After "Avatar: The Way of Water" became Cameron's third $2 billion movie at the global box office (alongside "Titanic" and, of course, the first "Avatar"), you'd expect that studio executives would be throwing money at him to make as many sequels as humanly possible. And yet. 

In an interview with Discussing Film's Andrew J. Salazar, Cameron talked about the moment when he decided to split the planned second "Avatar" movie into two separate films, thus creating a fifth "Avatar" movie. He also revealed that while he told his people about this before notifying the studio and reassured them a fifth film wouldn't be a problem, it turned out that the studio wasn't exactly enamored with the idea. However, Cameron said that he had a perfect response to the executives who were shuffling their feet about committing to an extra "Avatar" film: 

"My counterargument was, 'Wait a minute. What part of you getting another chance to make $2 billion is in question here?'"

With both "Avatar" and "The Way of Water" making it over the $2 billion line and beyond, James Cameron certainly has the box office numbers to throw around. Still, when you remember the fact that all four "Avatar" sequels were announced at once in 2016 (when "Avatar 5" was still optimistically scheduled for 2023), it makes sense that the pre-Disney sale Fox higher-ups were somewhat apprehensive when they heard Cameron had expanded from three to four sequels. 

The thing is, the "Avatar" movies aren't exactly cheap to make. The upcoming "Avatar: Fire and Ash" is one of the most expensive movies ever, with a production budget that could exceed $400 million. So, when Cameron took his plan about an extra sequel to Fox, the sheer amount of money bags on the table would likely have been enough to make just about anyone — except Cameron, evidently — a bit nervous. 

"Fire and Ash" will show how well the "Avatar" franchise's allure endures, but looking at his track record, betting against Cameron might be a fool's errand. Just ask all those Fox execs who didn't want a fifth "Avatar" back in the day. 

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" is in theaters on December 19, 2025.