Director James Cameron is set to release his third installment of the Avatar film franchise, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” in December of this year and has hopes it will succeed just like the other two.

    “And I want to be thematically consistent about the way music was used and underscore during dialogue scenes and things like that,” Cameron said in an interview with Variety.” So I have rewatched it. It’s a pretty good ride, I have to say!” 

    On Aug. 9, 2024, Cameron, alongside actor Sam Worthington and actress Zoe Saldaña. announced “Avatar: Fire and Ash” at the D23 Expo. It was held in Anaheim, California, and is a convention where Disney fans from all over come together to hear about new announcements from Disney’s future, as well as shop and interact with certain exhibits. Cameron did mention that a new Avatar film was in the works in Jan. 2023 after his previous film, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” was successful. “Fire and Ash” is predicted to make over one billion dollars worldwide, similar to the others in this franchise. 

  “He noted that his goal isn’t to replicate what was done in the previous two films but instead to make ‘brave choices’ that might not necessarily be expected,” writer Toria Sheffield wrote in People magazine. 

    The film will run for three hours and 12 minutes and will introduce a few new characters to the storyline. Michelle Yeoh, Oona Chaplin, and David Thewlis are going to be playing the roles of Dr. Karina Mogue, Varang, and Peylak. These three characters aren’t going to be the only new characters joining; actor Edie Falco will also be joining the crew while playing the role of a new human threat to the Na’vi people. 

    “In this movie I would like to see a lot of new elements,” freshman Luke Farrar said. “I thought that the second movie kind of reused some old stuff, so I’d like to see a lot of new characters and whatnot.”

    Fans believe the storyline will be very different from the other two, but will add onto the past two films in the franchise, just like the ones in the past. It will be about how the two main characters, Jake and Neytiri, and how their family will come across the “ash people”, a new tribe that resides on a side of Pandora in a volcanic biome. They will be the foe in this installment. 

    “I think they’re probably going to take away so many characters and kind of change it a little bit, so it might be completely different,” freshman Savannah Herris said. 

    The crew started filming on Sept. 25, 2017 and ended in late Dec. 2020. The film started production after the first film was finished. The film was delayed because technology kept advancing and the crew needed to upgrade their equipment to

get the necessary shots. Then the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay due to quarantine and worldwide shutdowns. The film is now set to release on December 19, 2025, in the United States. So, keep an eye out for this action-packed film. 

    “We’re into a very hectic two years of post-production right now,” Cameron said. “So it will be Christmas of 2025.”