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James Cameron and Disney have yet to decide whether there will be an Avatar 4. Cameron has also not settled on how directing duties will be handled for a potential fourth Avatar film, given his stated intention to move on to other projects. Another director named James - James Wan - has expressed his eagerness to be involved in the project if Cameron chooses to scale back his involvement with the franchise.
Wan told Screen Rant in an interview, "I haven't done Avatar yet. But if you could put a good one for me with James Cameron, I'd love to give it a try." Wan is best known for his work as a successful horror director on the Conjuring, Saw, and Insidious franchises. He also became a member of the billion-dollar club by directing the effects-filled Aquaman (which made $1.15 billion worldwide). As a prolific producer, Wan's credits include M3GAN.
Cameron previously told The Hollywood Reporter that if there was a fourth film, he would likely still be the director but would outsource more of his day-to-day duties to second unit directors - something he started doing on Fire and Ash. "I've learned how to expand the second unit concept," Cameron said. "For example, most directors don't operate their own cameras, so when I did the performance capture, I operated every virtual camera on the first movie. On the second film, I started to delegate some of that to [virtual second unit director] Richard Baneham and other people. I can imagine completely delegating it when I've already set the stage for how a scene plays out, and then I'll review it in the editing stage. So, yes, that's possible."
As for whether there will be another Avatar film, Cameron has been candid that it all depends on the box office performance of Fire and Ash (without specifying a target number). "This could be the last one. We may find that the release of Avatar 3 proves how diminished the cinematic experience is these days, or we may find it proves that it's as strong as it ever was - but only for certain types of films. It's a coin toss right now. We won't know until mid-January."
While it's not quite mid-January yet, Fire and Ash has already proven wrong any doubters of the franchise's vitality. After 18 days, Fire and Ash surpassed the $1 billion mark globally and - like the first two films and Cameron's Titanic - showed that his epics have unusually long legs. In North America, Fire and Ash finished the weekend with a domestic total of $303 million after earning a better-than-expected $40 million.
Fire and Ash hit the billion-dollar mark a bit slower than The Way of Water (which crossed it after 14 days). The first film made an incredible $2.9 billion, and the sequel hit $2.3 billion. Fire and Ash is expected to end up somewhere shy of The Way of Water, but it's tough to imagine Disney wanting to shelve any franchise that's so easily surpassing the $1 billion mark.
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