The action-packed first trailer for James Cameron‘s next Avatar fantasy epic has leaked online — and the footage looks spectacular.
Disney has released the trailer for Avatar: Fire & Ash “exclusively” in theaters in front of Fantastic Four: First Steps. And just like with Christopher Nolan’s “only in theaters” trailer for The Odyssey earlier this month, grainy unauthorized copies have begun to circulate online. Disney is clearly trying its best to cut down on the viral spread — the Fire & Ash trailer has been a bit tougher to find Nolan’s — with copies being taken down almost as fast as they pop up.
Needless to say, reaction from moviegoers who watched the trailer in theaters on Friday has been effusive. Fan site The Sietch of Sci-Fi said the trailer “looks incredible.” Another raved that the trailer was “some of the most beautiful footage I’ve seen all year [and I was] struck by the real sense of doom and rage — fist fights inside of cosmic volcanoes, heroes terrified, huge aerial battles.” While another entertainment writer wrote, “[The trailer] started out as ‘meh, more of the same’ and ended with ‘yup, another billion to James Cameron.’” And a film critic wrote: “The visuals are (somehow) on another level. There is no doubt in my mind that this WILL be the biggest movie of 2025, and ‘epic’ doesn’t feel like it does this trailer justice.”
The trailer returns moviegoers to Pandora and introduces two new tribes, the Wind Traders and the fire-hurling Ash People clan. The footage shows (trailer spoilers here — if that’s a thing) Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his partner Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and his Na’vi family engaged in intense arial fighting with the Ash People clan. There’s also the return of the sinister Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), now sporting dramatic white, black and red warpaint, suggesting he might have made an alliance with the Ash People. At one point, a captive Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) is told by a new villain, Varang (Oona Chaplin), “Your goddess has no dominion here.” While Sully warns Neytiri, “We cannot live like this,” and is taken captive and paraded before the Pandora occupation forces. And young Spider (Jack Champion) seems like he’s in jeopardy quite a bit.
The first Avatar, released in 2009, became the highest-grossing film of all time, raking in $2.9 billion globally. The first sequel, 2022’s The Way of Water, charted as the third-highest-grossing movie of all time (with $2.3 billion), beating expectations and silencing doubters that the Oscar winner could pull off another Avatar blockbuster. At this point, few doubt Cameron’s ability to generate massive box office returns with the Avatar franchise and confidence is high that Fire & Ash will deliver when its released as a major holiday tentpole on Dec. 19.
While a run time hasn’t yet been announced, Cameron has teased that Fire and Ash “will be a bit longer” than The Way of Water. The last film was three hours and 12 minutes.
“In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of [Way of Water],” Cameron recently said. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’ [Fire & Ash] will actually be a little bit longer than [Way of Water].”
Cameron plans five Avatar films and has said he intends to direct them all, as well. Much of the footage, Cameron has said, has already been shot. Avatar 4 is set for Dec. 21, 2029, and Avatar 5 will arrive Dec. 19, 2031.
Cameron also hopes to adapt the Charles Pellegrino books Ghosts of Hiroshima and Last Train From Hiroshima as soon as his Avatar schedule permits. The film would focus on the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima as well as the explosion in Nagasaki. If it comes to fruition, it would mark Cameron’s first non-Avatar film since 1997’s Titanic.
Fire & Ash cast members include Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Bailey Bass, Jemaine Clement and David Thewlis.
The official description of Fire and Ash: “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.”
Disney had no comment on the leak.