He became the first director to break the billion dollar mark at the box office with 1997’s Titanic, and now after a trilogy of Avatar movies, James Cameron has become the first director to deliver four consecutive billion dollar-grossing movies, with Avatar: Fire and Ash crossing the milestone this weekend.
With $306 million in North America and $777.1 million from international markets, the third Avatar movie closed its third weekend with $1.08 billion at the box office, and in doing so it also surpassed Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch to become the third highest-grossing movie of 2025 behind Zootopia 2 ($1.588 billion) and Ne Zha 2 ($2.244 billion).
While Cameron becomes the first director to deliver four billion dollar-grossing movies, he’ll almost certainly be joined in that club by Anthony and Joe Russo when Marvel Studios unleashes Avengers: Doomsday this coming December, although the Russos won’t have managed the feat consecutively, the brothers having helmed Cherry, The Gray Man and The Electric State in the years following Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
SEE ALSO: Read our Avatar: Fire and Ash review here
The bigger question for Cameron now however is whether he can extend his current record for the most movies to gross over $2 billion; he’s currently sitting on three – also consecutively – and while analysts are predicting that Fire and Ash will end its run in the $1.7 – $1.8 billion mark, Cameron has proven time and again that only a fool would bet against him at the box office. And if not, there’s always re-releases…
With “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” James Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na’vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na’vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is directed by James Cameron and features the return of cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Edie Falco, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Dileep A. Rao, Matt Gerald and Brandan Cowell, while new additions include David Thewlis, Oona Chaplin and Michelle Yeoh.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is playing now only in cinemas.
Originally published January 5, 2026. Updated January 6, 2026.
