‘Avatar’ Box Office: James Cameron’s 3rd Epic Fires Up With $12M in U.S. Previews & Total Earnings So Far

James Cameron’s Avatar franchise has been Hollywood’s equivalent of a supernova: massive, bright, and impossible to ignore. With the latest installment, Avatar: Fire and Ash, already making waves and a fact-checked look at what’s happening at the box office with verified numbers and sources.

Before we get into the newest movie’s earnings, let’s look at the groundwork:

• Avatar (2009) shattered records and became the highest-grossing movie of all time, earning about $2.92 billion worldwide.
• Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) followed with another beastly run, grossing around $2.32 billion globally and ranking among the top three highest-grossing films ever.

These two films alone have helped vault the franchise’s combined earnings past the $5 billion mark.

Launched in December 2025, Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third official film in the series. It continues the story of Jake Sully and Neytiri’s family in Pandora’s ecosystem — now mixed with fire, ash, and dramatic intertribal conflict.

Early Box Office Highlights

Here’s where things stand as of the most recent figures available:

• U.S. & Canada Previews: About $12 million earned before official weekend counts.*
• International Markets: Roughly $60.2 million globally outside North America before full rollout.
• Worldwide Total So Far: Around $72.2 million — and keep in mind, these figures are early in the theatrical run.

Hollywood projections by industry trackers put its potential opening weekend anywhere between $340 million to $380 million worldwide a huge number, but still less than The Way of Water’s global opening.

It’s worth noting the trend here because data loves context:

• Avatar: The Way of Water had significantly larger previews, showing $17 million in U.S. Thursday night previews, which helped drive a massive opening weekend and enormous long-term total.
• Fire and Ash’s preview figures are lower, but given the franchise’s enormous fanbase and expanded global market, this movie still stands a strong chance to be one of the top earners of 2025.

If Fire and Ash ends up crossing significant milestones particularly $1 billion or beyond the Avatar franchise could rank as one of the highest-earning trilogies (so far) in history. Remember: only about 57 films have ever grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
That’s a rare club and Avatar favorites already occupy multiple seats.