Guillermo del Toro’s Avatar 3 Verdict Will Surprise No One
Guillermo del Toro has already seen James Cameron’s Avatar 3, and—unsurprisingly—he’s raving about the threequel, stoking the hype as it barrels toward release.
Guillermo del Toro has seen Avatar 3, and he is all-in. Not shocking if you know how he feels about James Cameron, but still: he is calling it a masterpiece. Again.
While out promoting his recently released horror flick Frankenstein, the 61-year-old filmmaker sat down with Konbini Video Club and dropped his early take on Cameron's next Pandora trip, officially titled Avatar: Fire and Ash. Del Toro and Cameron have been close for decades, and del Toro says Cameron was spitballing Avatar ideas way back in the 90s. So, yes, he is not a neutral observer here. But he also does not hand out lazy praise.
"I've seen the three Avatars. They are absolute masterpieces for me."
Del Toro says he knows where this third film is headed and thinks it will catch a lot of people off guard. He also put Cameron's worldbuilding in rare company, comparing the scope of Avatar's mythology to George Lucas with Star Wars and L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. In other words: he thinks Cameron isn't just making sequels; he's building a whole modern myth.
If you remember his reaction to The Way of Water in 2022, this tracks. After that premiered, del Toro jumped on X (formerly Twitter) to call it a staggering achievement packed with sweeping visuals and big emotions, and said Cameron was operating at the peak of his powers. Consistency matters, and he's been consistent on this franchise.
Avatar 3: Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19, 2025. If del Toro is right, expect surprises. If he's wrong, well, he almost never is when it comes to Cameron.