Avatar: Fire & Ash Breaks a James Cameron Streak That Started 28 Years Ago (& Another Will Soon Follow)

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James Cameron has consistently been a major success in Hollywood, being the only director to have directed four films that grossed over $1 billion worldwide. Beyond commercial success, his films are also critically acclaimed. While many big-budget movies receive award nominations for technical aspects, Cameron’s films have repeatedly earned nominations for Best Picture. In fact, three of his films – Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water – were consecutively nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. This made many wonder if his latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, would continue this impressive run.

James Cameron’s impressive run of winning the Best Picture Oscar has come to an end. The 2026 Oscar nominations were revealed today, and his latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, didn’t make the list of ten nominees for the top prize. It did receive nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design, however. With the film’s box office performance currently, another one of Cameron’s successful streaks – consistent financial success – may also be in jeopardy.

Avatar: Fire and Ash Will Likely End James Cameron’s Box Office Streak

While Fire and Ash is a box office success, becoming Cameron’s fourth consecutive film to earn over $1 billion, it’s not performing as well as his previous blockbusters. Cameron’s last three films—including Titanic (with re-releases) and the first two Avatar movies—all surpassed $2 billion worldwide. Currently, Fire and Ash has earned $1.329 billion globally, putting it behind those earlier hits despite being one of the year’s highest-grossing films.

Okay, so I’ve been tracking Fire and Ash, and it looks like it’s probably not going to reach that huge $2 billion mark. It’s been out for over a month, and ticket sales are starting to dip. To get there, it would need to make over $640 million more, which just doesn’t seem likely at this point. As of today, it’s made $369.6 million domestically. If you compare that to the other Avatar films, it’s behind. The original Avatar had earned $509 million after 33 days (and ended up with almost $750 million!), and The Way of Water was even further ahead with $574.4 million (finishing at $684 million). Fire and Ash is significantly trailing both of those, so unless something amazing happens, it’s looking like it will be the lowest-grossing Avatar movie by quite a bit.

It wasn’t a shock that Fire and Ash didn’t perform well at the Oscars. Critics weren’t very enthusiastic about the film, and it received the lowest rating of any movie in the Avatar series on Rotten Tomatoes. While the visual effects were still impressive, the story felt weak and repetitive, and some parts were considered problematic. The excitement that led to Best Picture nominations for the first two films was missing this time. Considering this, along with the film’s box office results, it might be a good idea for the Avatar franchise to pause before making the fourth and fifth movies.

While nothing is confirmed, James Cameron has suggested he might pause work on the Avatar series to develop stronger stories for the films. This break could actually be helpful, as the series seems to be losing some creative momentum. Giving the writers more time to polish the scripts and explore new ideas could improve future Avatar movies. A pause would also allow audiences to anticipate the next installment, Avatar 4, more eagerly – the quick release of Fire and Ash after The Way of Water may have diminished its impact. If Cameron takes a step back and refocuses, the next film could be another huge success, potentially even earning another Best Picture nomination.

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2026-01-22 19:40