Avatar: Fire and Ash Officially Has the Longest Runtime of All 3 Movies

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The length of the upcoming movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has been announced. For comparison, the first Avatar film from 2009 runs for 2 hours and 41 minutes, and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) has a runtime of 3 hours and 12 minutes.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has longer runtime than Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water

According to AMC Theatres, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ runs for 3 hours and 15 minutes, making it the longest film in the ‘Avatar’ series. This matches statements director James Cameron has made in previous interviews.

Cameron told Empire magazine in March 2025 that the third film in the series would be longer than the previous one. He later revealed, several months after that, that the movie, titled ‘Fire and Ash’, would run for three hours.

James Cameron revealed a surprising change he made to the story of Avatar. Originally, the powerful flying creature Toruk wasn’t supposed to appear in the first film. However, Cameron felt Jake Sully needed to connect with Toruk as part of his journey. Despite initially planning to save Toruk for a sequel, Cameron rewrote parts of the script, filmed new scenes, and added the creature, ultimately extending the film’s runtime to three hours – something he expected, given the addition.

I was so thrilled to hear the director say that everything actually came together really well! And honestly, the best part was hearing how much the actors loved the idea – they were genuinely pumped about it.

Cameron co-wrote the screenplay for Avatar: Fire and Ash with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, building on a story they created with Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on December 19, 2025.

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2025-11-12 16:16