Nine-hour cut of ‘Avatar 3’ could be turned into Disney+ series

The nine-hour long director’s cut of Avatar 3 could be made into a limited Disney+ series, according to a Hollywood insider.

Jeff Sneider first revealed on his podcast, The Hot Mic, that James Cameron had a nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 back in December. Now, he has revealed on a new episode of the podcast what Cameron plans to do with it.

“Months ago, I put out a rumour about James Cameron having a nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 that he wanted to finish the visual effects for,” Sneider. “A lot of people were like, ‘Why would the studio pay for that? Why would he insist on doing visual effects if then he’s gonna cut the movie?’ The idea is that Cameron would do all the visual effects for his nine-hour cut of Avatar 3 and then release it on Disney+ as a limited series after the theatrical cut is released.”

Sneider, however, did caution that the plan could potentially change.

The third Avatar film was shot simultaneously alongside Avatar 2: The Way of Water, which was released in December to critical acclaim. Avatar 3, meanwhile, is set to arrive in cinemas in December 2024.

Two sequels are set to follow, which are due for release in 2026 and 2028 respectively. Back in December, Cameron revealed he shot scenes for the third and fourth films in the franchise in advance to avoid Stranger Things-style ageing issues with the younger cast members.

He also previously revealed that he was prepared to end the franchise after the third film if The Way Of Water wasn’t a box office success. However, the film went on to make over $1billion (£831m) at the global box office in just 14 days.