The Sully family is back. Just three years after The Way of Water, the third installment of James Cameron’s Pandora epic, is set to hit the big screen (with very specific instructions from the filmmaker, at that). Avatar: Fire and Ash hits the 2025 movie calendar on December 19, continuing Jake and Neytiri’s story following the events of the previous film. Critics have seen the movie, and they’re split over whether the gorgeous-looking product justifies its runtime and repetition.
This time around, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña’s characters have joined the Metkayina clan, who encounter the “Ash People,” an aggressive Na’vi group led by Oona Chaplin’s Varang. First reactions to screenings saw critics noting some repetition in the narrative, and in CinemaBlend’s review of Avatar: Fire and Ash, Corey Chichizola agrees that there are fewer new aspects to Pandora this time around. The stakes, however, make it feel like more than the middle section of a larger franchise. He rates the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and writes:
