James Cameron will give Avatar 4 plot 'in press conference' if film is not possible
Director hopes more films are possible but says he will tell plots whatever happens
Avatar: Fire and Ash is set for a third week at the top of the UK box office chart, but James Cameron is still unsure if it will make enough money for parts four and five to be viable.
Listen to this article
The director has plans for two more instalments in the franchise but has said he will describe the plots in a press conference if he doesn’t get the green light for his vision.
Part of Avatar 4 was filmed alongside 2 and 3, which were masterminded in tandem, but Cameron will need to reimburse a $350-400m budget for the films to go ahead as planned.
Fire and Ash has made more than $700m worldwide already, but box office logic is that takings have to be more than double the budget to guarantee a profit.
Cameron told Entertainment Weekly: “I don't know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does. But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out."
He added: "If we don't get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I'll hold a press conference and I'll tell you what we are gonna do. How's that?"
The first Avatar was released in 2009 and became the highest grossing film ever and the sequel The Way of Water, released in 2022, was also a box office success.
Cameron said that he might like to turn the story into a novel, although raised doubts about a project going ahead due to a decline in the numbers who read for pleasure.
Of a novel, he said: "There's so much culture and backstory and lateral detail in these characters that's been worked out. I'd love to do something that's at that level of granular detail.
“[But] there's no business model for it anymore. People aren't reading."
Up to December 22, the third Avatar had reached almost £10m in the UK alone, and that figure is expected to have been bolstered over the Boxing Day to New Year period.
Data also showed that Zootropolis 2 had taken £18m over five weeks, while another £1.2m for Wicked: For Good brought its six week UK total to £42m.
Ne Zha 2, a Chinese film, is the highest grossing of 2025, so far, with $2.2 billion, around double the second place Zootropolis ($1.1bn) while Lilo and Stitch ($1bn) is third.
Marty Supreme, Anaconda, Sentimental Value and The Housemaid were all released on Boxing Day in the UK.