Those attending CinemaCon 2025 were among the first to get a sneak peek at the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Fire and Ash (aka Avatar 3) is set to hit theaters later this year, marking the third chapter in James Cameron's ongoing sci-fi epic.
This time, the film will focus on Sam Worthington's Sully clan as they clash with a new clan of red-skinned alien Na'vi hailing from a volcanic region of the franchise's central far-off planet, Pandora, known as the Ash People.
Avatar 3 Gets the CinemaCon Spotlight
Disney offered one of the first proper looks at the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash film at its CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas.
The live stage event, which The Direct attended, debuted peeks behind the curtain at the company's most significant movies in 2025 and beyond, including James Cameron's latest big-screen epic.
The Avatar 3 footage shown to attendees included a new look. Two new Na'vi clans will join the franchise in the film, including the already teased Ash People and the sky-faring Wind Traders. Audiences saw Wind Trader Na'vi's massive ships, which float in the sky like giant hot-air balloons.
One of the primary clips featured a massive siege on one of these new airships, with the red-skinned Ash People Na'vi as its attackers.
Interspersed in this initial look at footage was a clip of a new human character wearing a mask, as was a scene showing a massive volcano (which looks to be the home of this new Na'vi tribe).
Audiences were then treated to a trailer-esque showcase piece, which displayed the Ash people's ability to light fight with the snap of their fingers and the Tulkun whale from Avatar 2.
The short teaser concluded with a high-intensity fight between Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and Stephen Lang's Miles Quaritch. The pair of franchise mainstays squared off in an insane Pandoran setting with lava shooting up all around them, bright, colorful flora, a massive moon in the sky behind them, and what looked to be a set of floating rocks of which they were fighting.
While this footage has not yet been released to the public, a full-on Fire and Ash trailer can be expected sometime soon. The last film in the franchise debuted its first footage alongside the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in May 2022 before Avatar 2 came to theaters that December.
If Disney follows suit with the upcoming threequel, a trailer release sometime around the release of Thunderbolts* (May 2, 2025) feels right.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is due in theaters on December 19, 2025 and is expected to be one of the highest-earning movies of the year (read more about The Direct's 2025 box office predictions here).
What To Expect From Avatar 3
Heading into Avatar: Fire and Ash, fans have plenty to get excited about.
The next entry into the billion-dollar-making sci-fi franchise has been long-awaited (not nearly as long as between the first and second film, though) as it sets up further sequels already planned in the hit series: Avatar 4 and 5.
Avatar 3 will introduce audiences to a new corner of Pandora. This time around, Sam Worthington's Jake Sully and his family will come across a hostile clan of Na'vi that have been described as "the dark side of the" franchise's iconic alien race:
"In 'Fire and Ash,' we will meet two more of these tribes: one of them nomadic, who travels through the air; and another terrestrial, who demonstrates the dark side of the Na'vi. They were destroyed by volcanic eruptions, so they resent nature and everything the forest Na'vi preach."
The red-skinned Na'vi are known as the Ash People. They hail from a region of Pandora, whose landscape is dominated by brutal heat and jutting volcanoes. During the CinemaCon presentation, they were described as a group of the Pandoran alien race who have turned their back on the Na'vi god, Eywa.
The Ash people are confirmed to be the primary antagonists in Fire and Ash, turning the franchise on its head from its traditional Na'vi vs human narrative.
Director James Cameron previously teased that Avatar 3 will "do the opposite" of the first two films, putting the Na'vi in a negative light for the very first time as cultures clash in this stunning sci-fi world:
"I want to show the Na’vi in a different light because, so far, I have only shown their good sides. In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we will do the opposite."
Along with the new Na'vi, this adventure will include a newcomer to the series, Michelle Yeoh, who is set to appear as a new human character stationed on Pandora and studying its alien ecosystem (read about the entire Avatar 3 cast here).
