Between The Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Titanic, filmmaker James Cameron was already hugely successful before helming Avatar. However, it's those movies that have seen him repeatedly break box office records.
2009's Avatar grossed $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office, and much to the surprise of many pundits, when Avatar: The Way of Water followed in 2022, it grossed a massive $2.3 billion. Cameron has spent years devoting his time to Pandora, and next up is this weekend's Avatar: Fire and Ash.
However, while a fourth movie once seemed like a guarantee, the director has once again hinted at potentially moving on from Avatar after this third instalment. Even if Cameron does return for Avatar 4, it appears he'll be less hands-on.
"I’ve got other stories to tell, and I’ve got other stories to tell within Avatar," he told The Hollywood Reporter (via SFFGazette.com). "What won’t happen is, I won’t go down the rabbit hole of exclusively making only Avatar for multiple years. I’m going to figure out another way that involves more collaboration."
"I’m not saying I’m going to step away as a director, but I’m going to pull back from being as hands-on with every tiny aspect of the process."
One of the many projects we know Cameron has his eye on is another Terminator movie. Addressing that, the filmmaker said, "Once the dust clears on Avatar in a couple of months, I’m going to really plunge into that. There are a lot of narrative problems to solve. The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what’s really happening to make it science fiction?"
That echoes previous remarks from the True Lies helmer, but he's now confirmed that this would be the first Terminator movie he steps behind the camera for without star Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of it.
"I can safely say he won’t be [in it]," Cameron stated. "It’s time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in [2019’s] Terminator: Dark Fate, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of Terminator and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren’t imagining."
After praising Noah Hawley's Alien: Earth, he made it clear that harkening back to the past isn't what he has planned for Terminator. "I’m not criticizing it, but I was there for Aliens, what, 41 years ago? Something like that wouldn’t be of interest to me. The things that scare you the most are exactly the things you should be doing. Nobody should be operating artistically from a comfort zone."
What a Terminator movie helmed by Cameron will look like in this day and age is hard to say, but he's not wrong that the franchise needs to evolve. Since he walked away from it in the early 90s, each new instalment has debuted to diminishing returns and mixed reviews.
As for Avatar, that's a cash cow it's hard to imagine Disney wanting to leave on the shelf for too long. Ultimately, it will be Cameron who has final say on where it goes next.
With Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family.
The movie also stars Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, David Thewlis, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, Britain Dalton, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Brendan Cowell, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans, Jr., and Kate Winslet.
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19, 2025.