James Cameron is used to pressure. He’s felt it 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface, trapped in a submersible near the wreck of the Titanic. He’s felt it pioneering new filmmaking technology, betting entire studios on ideas that sounded unreasonable at the time. And once again, he’s feeling it as the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash heads toward its 2025 movie schedule release; Disney pressed for him to cut the film’s runtime.
The latest tension centers on runtime and character focus. As Cameron explains, Disney had familiar concerns about the film’s length and whether audiences really needed so much time with Colonel Miles Quaritch, the franchise’s long-running antagonist. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Academy Award–winning filmmaker framed the pushback as part of a decades-old studio mindset, one he believes no longer reflects how audiences actually engage with movies. He explains:
There’s always pressure — ‘Do we need all this stuff with Quaritch? He’s the bad guy.’ There’s a wisdom that’s a carryover from decades ago that if we can have more [screenings per day], we’ll make more money. But if you engage people, the word will spread. We proved it with Titanic, which is exactly the same length as Fire and Ash. This doesn’t mean Fire and Ash will make as much money as Titanic.
According to the Terminator franchise creator, Fire and Ash originally ran for almost four hours before being cut to three hours and 15 minutes. Early screenings received a very positive response, with people eager to see it again, although there were still some common complaints, many of which concerned the movie’s length. He says he reads all the feedback and takes what matters into account, but he’s pretty strict about keeping the story’s depth and the characters intact.
Quaritch, played again by Stephen Lang, isn’t just your typical bad guy. He actually serves as an essential thread in the Avatar story, showcasing the darker sides of humanity and our unresolved issues. For Cameron, cutting these parts to make the film shorter would really diminish its emotional and philosophical impact.
The stakes for Fire and Ash are unusually high, even by Avatar standards. Cameron has acknowledged that the film’s performance will determine whether the planned fourth and fifth installments move forward as envisioned. While parts of those sequels have already been shot, their future hinges on whether audiences still show up for a three-hour-plus theatrical experience in a shifting moviegoing landscape.
That uncertainty has also prompted Cameron to reflect on his own future. After spending more than a decade immersed in Pandora, the director says he’s increasingly eager to explore other projects, including a new Terminator script, documentaries, and stories that step outside the Avatar universe. He’s been candid about feeling at a crossroads: whether he wants Fire and Ash to be such a massive success that it locks him back into years of sequels, or just successful enough to give him the freedom to pivot.
Still, the visionary moviemaker isn’t hedging creatively. He remains adamant that spectacle without emotional investment doesn’t last, and that audience engagement matters more than shaving minutes to squeeze in an extra showing. For a filmmaker who built his career on taking risks others warned him against, that philosophy hasn’t changed. If Avatar: Fire and Ash is going to work, James Cameron believes it has to work on its own terms — length, Quaritch, and all.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third chapter in the long-running Pandora saga, hits theaters on December 19, 2025. Be sure to check your local listings for showtimes.
