‘Avatar 3’ Box Office Still Behind ‘Zootopia 2,’ ‘Minecraft ,’ and ‘Lilo & Stitch’

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Okay, so Avatar: Fire and Ash is clearly a massive hit worldwide – James Cameron’s done it again! But it’s funny, I’ve been hearing some people say that despite all the money it’s making, the Avatar series hasn’t really become a huge part of our cultural conversation. And honestly, looking at the numbers, there might be something to that. It needs to bring in another $20 million or so domestically to even crack the top three highest-grossing films of 2025, which is kind of surprising for a movie this big.

As of now, Avatar: Fire and Ash has earned $397 million in the United States, placing it behind Zootopia 2 ($420.6 million), Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million), and A Minecraft Movie ($424 million). Although it’s currently the fourth highest-grossing film of 2025 domestically, Fire and Ash has performed much better worldwide. It’s only behind Zootopia 2 ($1.8 billion) and Ne Zha 2 ($2 billion) globally.

Despite a modest performance, Walt Disney Pictures is probably satisfied with how Fire and Ash did. The studio has been prioritizing international audiences lately, and they already have three of the top four highest-grossing films domestically, which is a good result.

Will ‘Avatar 4’ (and ‘Avatar 5’) Still Happen?

Given how much money the Avatar movies have made, it’s hard to say if Disney or James Cameron will ever end the series. Currently, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are scheduled for release in December 2029 and December 2031, respectively, which shows everyone involved has been optimistic about the future of the franchise. However, the next two films are different from the previous ones because Avatar: The Way of Water and the next installment were filmed simultaneously, making it simpler to produce these long-awaited sequels.

The upcoming chapters of the story are likely to be filmed back-to-back. During interviews for Fire and Ash, Cameron admitted he’s prepared to stop making the series if the profits aren’t high enough. He explained to the The Town podcast, “I’m confident the film will be profitable, but will it make enough money to warrant continuing the series?”

Cameron admitted he’s considering stepping back from directly leading the Avatar franchise, but wouldn’t completely relinquish control. He plans to remain heavily involved as a producer, but wants to avoid having the films consume his life as they have in the past.

Avatar Has a Long Way to Go to Dominate All Franchises


20th Century Studios

Because Lilo & Stitch offered something different and Zootopia is still relatively new, the drop in Avatar‘s popularity was probably due to audiences getting tired of sequels and reboots. 2025 saw a lot of new movies in established franchises like Marvel, Jurassic World, and Mission: Impossible. By the time Fire and Ash came out in December, viewers were simply exhausted by so many continuations of familiar stories.

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Despite having only three films released so far, Avatar has already become one of the top ten highest-grossing movie franchises of all time. It ranks alongside long-running series like James Bond, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. What really sets Avatar apart is how much money each film makes on average – a staggering $2.2 billion. While the Avengers films come close, they’re part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, which brings the overall franchise average down.

Between new releases from Spider-Man, Star Wars, the Avengers, and DC, these franchises are likely to surpass Avatar as the highest-grossing movie series of all time.

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2026-02-20 01:18