Avatar: Fire and Ash Box Office Crosses $1 Billion in 18 Days

Avatar 3 reaches major box office milestone after slower start

Avatar: Fire and Ash has officially crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, reaching the milestone just 18 days after its theatrical release.

The third chapter in James Cameron’s sci-fi saga has earned $306 million in North America and $777.1 million from international markets, pushing its worldwide total to $1.083 billion so far.

While the numbers are massive, the film reached the billion-dollar club slightly later than previous installments. Avatar: The Way of Water crossed $1 billion in just 14 days, while the original Avatar did so in 17 days. Both films went on to dominate cinemas for weeks and ultimately became two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, earning $2.3 billion and $2.9 billion respectively.

Avatar Fire and Ash Crosses Billion in 18 Days Worldwide

Image: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Can Avatar 3 reach $2 billion?

Whether Fire and Ash can match — or come close to — those historic totals remains uncertain. Much will depend on overseas audiences, which have traditionally driven the franchise’s biggest successes. The first Avatar pulled in $2.1 billion from international markets alone, while The Way of Water earned $1.65 billion outside the U.S.

At this stage, analysts say the film’s long-term performance will depend on repeat viewings and how strongly it holds up in global markets over the coming weeks.

Another billion-dollar win for Disney

Avatar: Fire and Ash is already the third Disney release of 2025 to cross $1 billion, following Lilo & Stitch and Zootopia 2. Notably, none of Disney’s major competitors have released a billion-dollar film since 2023.

The studio has had a standout year overall, generating more than $6.58 billion worldwide from 16 theatrical releases. Disney currently leads the global box office by a margin of at least $2 billion over its closest rivals.

Story, cast, and what comes next

Fire and Ash follows Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as their family faces a new and dangerous enemy on Pandora.

Director James Cameron, who remains the only filmmaker with three $2 billion movies (Titanic being the third), has long planned five films in the Avatar series. However, he recently joked that the future of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 may depend on how Fire and Ash performs financially.

Speaking to Variety ahead of the film’s release, Cameron said, “We’re getting ahead of ourselves because, first of all, we’ve got to make some money with this one. Every time we go out, we have to prove this crazy business case yet again.”

For now, Avatar: Fire and Ash has cleared its first major hurdle — and all eyes are on whether it can sustain momentum in the weeks ahead.