James Cameron Shoots Down Rumor About Nine-Hour Avatar 3

Avatar writer-director James Cameron has debunked an online rumor that suggested he had a nine-hour rough cut of Avatar 3. Speaking to Temple of Geek, Cameron–unprompted–said he wanted to correct the online rumor, saying it stemmed from a simple misunderstanding.

“There is no nine-hour rough cut [of Avatar 3],” he said. “I would put a shotgun in my mouth if I ever did a nine-hour rough cut. What I said was it’s nine hours of material, meaning Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5. That’s three hours of movie.”

A report suggested Cameron turned in a nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 and that Disney management was considering putting it on Disney+ as a mini-series after a theatrical run. This speculation gathered steam online to the point where the director himself has now debunked it.

Instead, Avatar 3–which should be about three hours long–will be released theatrically in December 2025. It makes sense that Disney would continue the familiar playbook instead of changing things up, as 2009’s Avatar and 2022’s The Way of Water are the No. 1 and No. 3 highest-grossing movies in history.

Also in the interview, Cameron gave an update on Avatar 4, saying he’s filmed about 95% of the movie. The writer-director went on to talk about his passion for the franchise and what drew him back to the franchise in the first place after so many years.

“It’s not just about loving the material and world we’ve built so far and what we’re continuing to build. It’s about the people we work with. What brought me back to Avatar, more than anything else, was the feeling of family and mutual respect that we had on the first film,” he said. “And now we’re at a point where it’s like you’re in Season 4 of some TV series where everybody just feels so supportive; there’s no cat fighting, no in-fighting. None of that stuff. Everybody loves what they’re doing.”

Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are streaming now on Disney+. The third movie, due out in 2025, will introduce evil Na’vi characters. On the gaming side, Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is available now on console and PC.