James Cameron feels “pretty good” about Avatar: Fire And Ash. The 70-year-old filmmaker has already screened his long-awaited sci-fi movie for “a few selected people” and has been thrilled by the feedback so far.
The previous film, Avatar: The Way Of Water, was released in 2022.
The acclaimed movie-maker – who wrote and directed the new Avatar movie – told Stuff: “I’ve shown it to a few selected people and the feedback has been … it’s definitely the most emotional and maybe the best of the three so far.
“We’ll find out, you know, but I feel pretty good about it.”
The upcoming movie features the likes of Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet, and Cameron has admitted to being wowed by their efforts.
The director – who created the money-spinning film franchise – said: “The work is exceptional from the actors. It’s pretty heart-wrenching in a good way.”
Cameron shot the new movie in Wellington, New Zealand, and he’s hoping to encourage investors to throw their support behind the country’s film industry.
The Canadian filmmaker – who now has a home in New Zealand – explained: “It’s in a bit of a low spot right now, but when I first got here there was vigour in the film community, there was vigour in the city at large. We just need to remember that we’re good at that.
“From my perspective, reinvigorating the film sector can mean a lot. And I don’t think people here really appreciate how good they are relative to such a small population base.
“We’re very good at some of the very high-tech stuff. You know, there are excellent VFX artists here, world-class. Historically, it’s been proven, it’s respected, and I feel it’s a place that’s worthy of investing.”
Meanwhile, Cameron previously admitted that he was hesitant about making more Avatar films.
The award-winning director has enjoyed huge success with the sci-fi franchise, and Cameron didn’t want to risk spoiling what he’d already achieved.
Speaking to Empire magazine, Cameron explained: “I had to think long and hard whether I even wanted to make another Avatar film, because it was kind of ours to lose.
“When you’ve done something that’s been that transcendent in terms of success, do you really want to go try and do that again? There’s a lot of pressure on it. I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal.”
Avatar: Fire And Ash is scheduled for release on Dec 19, 2025.
