James Cameron is beginning to tease Avatar fans about the lengthy — and emotional — Avatar: Fire and Ash.
In multiple new pieces published by Empire in recent days, filmmaker Cameron, 70, noted that the third Avatar installment “will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2,” which already ran for three hours and 12 minutes.
On top of the movie’s lengthy runtime, Cameron also said that his wife Suzy Amis Cameron watched “the whole thing from end to end” for the first time on Dec. 22 and walked away feeling significantly emotionally moved.
“She bawled for four hours,” he said of Suzy’s reaction to the movie. “She kept trying to get her s— back together so she could tell me specific reactions, and then she’d just tear up and start crying again. Finally, I’m like, ‘Honey, I’ve got to go to bed. Sorry, we’ll talk about it some other time.’ ”
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Cameron and Suzy first met on the set of his 1997 movie Titanic, which Suzy appeared in as an actor playing the role of Lizzy Calvert. Cameron was in a relationship with Linda Hamilton at the time; they married in 1997 and filed for divorce in 1999, and Cameron and Suzy married shortly afterward in 2000. The pair share three children: Claire, Quinn and Elizabeth.
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“She’s a pretty good bellwether,” Cameron added of Suzy’s film taste. “She called the ball on Titanic and Avatar and Avatar 2. So I trust her heart on it.”
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Cameron famously has details worked out for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, which he told Empire he has been working on with screenwriters Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. Some of Fire and Ash‘s story was originally planned for inclusion in 2022’s The Way of Water, Cameron said.
“In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2,” he said. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’ ”
Avatar: Fire and Ash will release in theaters Dec. 19. The franchise’s fourth installment is currently scheduled for release in December 2029, while Avatar 5 is currently expected to release in December 2031.
