James Cameron May Tighten Budgets for Avatar 4 and 5 Despite Fire and Ash Success

James Cameron has never been shy about spending big to bring his cinematic visions to life. But even the man behind some of the highest-grossing movies in history is now admitting that the future of the Avatar franchise may require a more careful approach to money.

While Avatar: Fire and Ash has crossed an impressive $1.2 billion at the global box office, that figure still falls well short of the franchise’s earlier highs. The original Avatar remains the biggest movie of all time with $2.9 billion, while Avatar: The Way of Water earned $2.3 billion, placing it among the top-grossing films ever, just behind Avengers: Endgame.

According to Box Office Mojo, Fire and Ash currently ranks 28th on the all-time global box office list. That gap has raised questions about whether Disney will fully commit to Cameron’s long-planned Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 without some financial adjustments.

Speaking to Taiwanese outlet TVBS News, Cameron was candid about the situation.

“The movie industry is depressed right now. Avatar 3 cost a lot of money,” he said. “We have to do well in order to continue. And we need to figure out how to make Avatar movies more inexpensively.”

Despite the concerns, Cameron is still thinking long-term. He revealed that if the franchise moves forward, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 would be filmed together—much like Avatar 2 and Avatar 3—as one large, connected story.

He also dropped a major casting tease, revealing that Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh is set to join the franchise if the later films go ahead. Yeoh would play a performance-capture Na’vi character named Paktu’eylat, marking another high-profile addition to Pandora’s expanding world.

Fans will need patience, though. Avatar 4 is currently scheduled for release on December 21, 2029, with Avatar 5 planned to follow on December 19, 2031.

For now, the future of Pandora remains alive—but Cameron has made it clear that even on alien worlds, budgets still matter.