With the theatrical debut of James Cameron’s third Pandora-set saga, Avatar: Fire and Ash, fast approaching, The Walt Disney Company is about to beat its own runtime record once again. Set for a worldwide release on December 19, 2025, the highly anticipated epic officially clocks in at a monumental 3 hours and 15 minutes (195 minutes), cementing its place as the lengthiest theatrical movie in the studio’s 100-plus-year history.
This new milestone is a direct successor to the previous record holder, the 2022 Oscar-winning blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water. That film, which dazzled audiences with its underwater technology, came in at 3 hours and 12 minutes (192 minutes), making the upcoming sequel three minutes longer than its predecessor. The confirmation of the 195-minute duration, a number already appearing on major cinema chains now that tickets are on sale, shows the grand scale required to tell the full story of the Sully family and the planet Pandora.
The crown for the longest-running film in Disney’s catalog has only been passed down a handful of times in modern cinematic history, typically residing with titles that represented major franchise turning points or final chapters. Avatar: Fire and Ash will officially dethrone The Way of Water next month, but it stands on the shoulders of several massive blockbusters that prepared audiences for the age of the cinematic epic.
The last three films to hold the studio’s theatrical runtime record, before Fire and Ash, are The Way of Water (3 hours, 12 minutes), Avengers: Endgame (3 hours, 2 minutes), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2 hours, 48 minutes).
When Avengers: Endgame premiered in 2019, its 181-minute runtime was heralded as a necessary length to conclude Marvel's decade-long Infinity Saga, making it the first Disney-distributed film to surpass the 170-minute mark.
This record stood firm until 2022, when James Cameron returned to theaters with The Way of Water, setting a new, higher benchmark at 192 minutes. Now, the 195-minute commitment of Fire and Ash makes the Avatar franchise the uncontested sovereign of runtime within the Disney empire.
What To Expect When Avatar: Fire and Ash Arrives
Avatar: Fire and Ash promises to be the most intense and emotionally layered installment yet, delivering a narrative worthy of its extensive runtime. Director James Cameron confirmed that the film will move the saga away from the coastal Metkayina clan and into new, different biomes on Pandora.
The critical new development is the introduction of the Ash People, also known as the Fire Na'vi, a previously unseen, volcanic-dwelling clan. Unlike the harmonious clans featured in the first two films, the Ash People are described as an aggressive, antagonistic race, introducing a level of moral complexity to the Na'vi themselves.
Cameron offered insight into the titular symbolism, hinting at a darker, more philosophical depth for the threequel. He stated that the elements of the title are meant to be symbolic, explaining to Entertainment Weekly that "If you think of fire as hatred, anger, violence, that sort of thing, and ash is the aftermath." This suggests the Sully family's conflict will not only be against the returning human forces of the RDA but also an ideological struggle among the Na'vi people.
Returning cast members Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) and Zoe Saldaña (Neytiri) will be joined by the highly anticipated addition of Oona Chaplin in the role of Varang, the leader of the Ash People. Varang is reported to represent a faction of the Na'vi that rejects the spiritual connectivity to Eywa, creating a formidable threat that complicates the entire political structure of Pandora.
As of November 2025, Avatar: Fire and Ash has officially completed all post-production work, including the refining of the visual effects that bring these new landscapes and tribal cultures to life. With the director promising a film that is "more intense, more emotional, and bigger in scale," every one of those 195 minutes is expected to be vital to the mythology of the world’s most successful cinematic franchise. It is also worth noting that the popcorn buckets and merch for this release will also be on an epic scale.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
