Avatar: Fire and Ash Reportedly Breaks the 3-Hour Barrier — Settle In for an Epic Return to Pandora
Clear your schedule—early reports say Avatar: Fire and Ash runs even longer than The Way of Water.
James Cameron is doing the most again. The next Avatar movie, 'Avatar: Fire and Ash', is officially clocking in at epic length, because of course it is.
The runtime (and yes, it tops 'The Way of Water')
AMC has the film listed at 3 hours and 15 minutes. For anyone keeping score at home, that is three minutes longer than 'Avatar: The Way of Water' (3 hours and 12 minutes). Runtime creep, thy name is Pandora.
Why it is longer this time
Cameron has been telegraphing this for a while. He previously explained that 'Way of Water' was stuffed with ideas and character work they could not fully explore without splitting things up. The plan was always for the third film to breathe more.
"Movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2."
Short version: too many ideas, not enough runway in Part 2, so Part 3 gets extra space.
New Na'vi culture incoming
As the title hints, 'Fire and Ash' takes us to a different corner of Pandora, introducing the Mangkwan Clan, also known as the Ash People. Cameron has said the fire-aligned Ash People will show the Na'vi from a different angle, not just the noble, idyllic version we have mostly seen so far.
Who is back (and who is new)
- Returning: Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, and Sigourney Weaver as Kiri.
- New: Oona Chaplin joins as Varang.
- Franchise context: This is the third film in Cameron's Pandora saga, the one he said would be longer to make room for character work that spilled over from the last movie.
- Release date: 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' hits theaters December 19.
Three-plus hours with the Ash People on a giant screen in December. Plan the bathroom break now.