James Cameron ‘Will Hold a Press Conference’ to Reveal ‘Avatar 4’ and ‘5’ Storylines If ‘Fire and Ash’ Underperforms and Ends the Franchise Early

James Cameron revealed to Entertainment Weekly that he will hold a press conference to reveal the plot details of “Avatar 4″ and “Avatar 5” if the franchise ends after “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the third movie in the franchise that is currently playing in theaters. The Oscar-winning director has been vocal on the “Fire and Ash” press tour that the future of the “Avatar” franchise depends on the third movie being a financial success. Cameron is prepared to end the series if it’s not.

“I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does,” Cameron told EW. “But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out… If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”

Cameron said his other option is to novelize his scripts for “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5,” adding: “There’s so much culture and backstory and lateral detail in these characters that’s been worked out. I’d love to do something that’s at that level of granular detail.”

During an interview with Variety, Cameron said “we’re getting ahead of ourselves” when asked about “Avatar 4” because “we’ve got to make some money with this one. Every time we go out, we have to prove this crazy business case yet again. The world has changed. We all know the stats, where theatrical is. It’s been a bad year. It’s starting to perk up a little bit with a couple of recent releases: ‘Wicked: For Good’ has done well, and ‘Zootopia 2’ is doing well. So, we’ll see.”

It appears Cameron might not need to hold a press tour to reveal the final two “Avatar” movies because “Fire and Ash” is performing quite well at the box office. The movie crossed the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office after one week in theaters and is expected to have strong holds into the new year. The previous two “Avatar” movies both cleared the $2 billion mark worldwide.

Jon Landau, the franchise’s late producer, let it slip to Gizmodo in 2022 that “Avatar 5” brings the Na’vi characters to Earth, adding: “And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth.”

Cameron has left it up in the air whether or not he will direct the next two “Avatar” movies himself. He told Empire in 2022 that helming the franchise is “all-consuming” and he might want to “pass the baton” to another director starting with “Avatar 4.” But he recently said before “Fire and Ash’s” release that “there’s no reason not to” direct the next sequel himself.

“I’m healthy, I’m good to go. I’m not going to rule it out,” Cameron added. “I mean, I’ve got to make it in a vigorous way, to handle the kind of volume and energy of the work for another six or seven years. You know what I mean? I might not be able to do that… [but] if I can, I’ll just do it.”