This weekend D23 Brazil was the talk of the town! There were a lot of exciting updates from our favorite Disney properties to look forward to, including the multi-billion-dollar-grossing Avatar franchise.

Director James Cameron showed up via video call to drop some pretty epic news concerning the Na’vi. After two world-conquering successes only a fool would bet against Cameron and there are high hopes for the third film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. Now, with new details teased, it looks like we might be treated to some evil Na’vi in a year’s time.

James Cameron’s surprising teaser about the next Avatar movie

Cameron’s presentation stole the show, but news potential evil side of the Na’vi has rightfully stood out. Cameron initially shared that we will be introduced to two new Na’vi tribes in Fire and Ash, a wind-d tribe, and an ash-d tribe. 

Speaking on the latter, Cameron said this tribe has, “taken what’s good about the Na’vi, and they’ve kinda twisted it into a very dark view of the world.” He added, “They call themselves the ‘Ash People,’ because their civilization was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. And so they have a lot of hostility towards the world at large.”

The idea of “evil Na’vi” intrigued many, and for good reason. After all, Pandora’s inhabitants have always been portrayed as nature-centric and peace-loving people. Cameron said this new depiction of a darker Na’vi tribe is meant to show viewers, “some of the darker sides of ourselves, just like we see the best of ourselves in the Forest Na’vi and the Ocean Na’vi.”

Avatar 3 concept pictures and plot themes

The two new races of Na’vi weren’t the only things Cameron talked about at D23. During his live video call from New Zealand, the director displayed five new pieces of concept art created by Steve Messing, Dylan Cole, and Zachary Berger, which gave us a first look at the two new Na’vi tribes to be introduced in the movie, as well as the latest areas of Pandora that the movie will be exploring. 

Cameron also divulged that the movie will follow themes such as trauma, loss, and revenge, which was emphasized in the new concept art. One piece showed a Na’vi character being led into an ash-covered village in handcuffs. Another piece showed what seems to be a glimpse at the means of transport used by the Air Na’vi. The image showed some ethereal hot air balloons with membranous wings on each side. There was also an image of a Na’vi riding the back of a sharp-winged flying creature, reminiscent of those from the first movie.

All in all, it appears we’re once again in for a truly otherworldly treat. Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released on Dec. 19, 2025.

This article contains minor spoilers for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

There isn’t an Avatar movie out this year, but we may have the next best thing in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. This new game from Ubisoft puts players on Pandora and allows them to explore it as a Na’vi. You can wield a mighty bow as you take down armored amp suits, bond with an Ikran, and commune with your tribe’s ancestral memories via Ewya.

Frontiers of Pandora is set a year before the events of Avatar: The Way of Water, meaning Jake Sully, Ney’tiri and other familiar characters are out there in the world. But does this game’s story ever feature any of them?

Do you meet the movie characters?

Sadly, as far as I can tell, the answer appears to be no. I’ve played the game extensively and scoured the credits for mention of them in the voice-acting section and it seems no characters from James Cameron’s movies appear in the game. This makes sense given that the game takes place in the “Western Frontier” a region of Pandora not yet shown in the movies.

As the game takes place once the RDA have returned to Pandora (as seen in the opening scenes of The Way of Water) we know that Jake is currently leading a guerilla war against their forces. This means he wouldn’t have time to make a trip away from the Omaticaya clan to participate in this story, so he and Ney’tiri have bigger fish to fry right now.

That said, Jake Sully is at least mentioned during the game as a brief scene in the introduction is set during the climactic events of Avatar.

There may be some hope yet. Frontiers of Pandora will get DLC in 2024 that may well be set after The Way of Water, so perhaps there’s time for Jake, Ney’tiri and the gang to swing by and hang out.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Dec. 7, 2023.

We were disappointed when James Cameron’s Avatar sequels were delayed, with the three movies now releasing in 2025, 2029, and 2031. But, fortunately, just a year on from Avatar: The Way of Water we have a whole new blockbuster Na’vi adventure in the form of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

The game puts you in the loincloth of a Na’vi warrior, letting you explore Pandora, bond and hunt the wildlife, impale human invaders on giant arrows, and commune with Eywa. The game looks gorgeous and was made in collaboration with the movie team, but is it canon to the movies and does it tie into the overall plot?

Is ‘Frontiers of Pandora’ canon?

Yes. Like all official Avatar releases Frontiers of Pandora is canon to the overall Avatar story. However, the game is set one year before the events of Avatar: The Way of Water and takes place in an entirely new region of Pandora, so doesn’t necessarily directly dovetail with Jake Sully and the Omaticaya.

However, the climactic events of Avatar are mentioned in Frontiers of Pandora, underlining that this is indeed all part of the same story.

Will it link to ‘Avatar 3’ in 2025?

We won’t spoil any part of the game’s plot, but there will indeed be some kind of link to Avatar 3 – tentatively titled Avatar: The Seed Bearer – in the game, though we may not realize what that is until the movie releases in Dec. 2025.

Speaking to IGN, developer Joshua Izzo said:

“I can say that there are going to be some future sequel elements in Frontiers of Pandora that will pay off when the movie comes out, when Avatar 3 comes out in 2025. Careful Avatar fans who have played the game will want to go back and maybe revisit certain things because it will be revealed to them in ’25.”

Exactly what link that will be is unknown, though if Jake Sully is seeking to unite the Na’vi tribes against the RDA it makes sense he’d visit the clans seen in Frontiers of Pandora. In addition, there will be story DLC for this game, so perhaps we’ll get some for this game around the release of Avatar 3 allowing us to leap into battle alongside Jake and Ney’tiri.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Dec. 7, 2023.

It’s been a year since James Cameron demolished the global box office with Avatar: The Way of Water. The next sequel, tentatively titled Avatar: The Seed Bearer won’t be in theaters until Dec. 2025 but, fortunately, if you’re itching to get back to this lush alien world Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has your back.

Developed by Ubisoft, this PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC release sees you play a Na’vi finding their place within Pandora, battling the invading human forces, and understanding what it means to commune with Eywa.

So, when during the movie timeline does Frontiers of Pandora take place?

The game’s setting

Without spoiling anything specific, the introduction to the game leaps forward in time. It opens with a scene set before the events of Avatar and then briefly jumps to the events of the first movie, which takes place in 2154. The vast majority of the game’s story then takes place in the year 2169, or a year before Avatar: The Way of Water happens.

This means the movies heavily influence the game’s story but don’t directly cross over with it. The events of the game take place in what’s dubbed “The Western Frontier”, a new region not featured in the movies and features an entirely new cast of characters. That said, the Pandoran flora and fauna will be immediately recognizable to anyone who’s seen the movies.

Ubisoft has confirmed that the events of Frontiers of Pandora are canon to the franchise, so perhaps characters or locations from the game will appear in future sequels.

Either way, if you’re a fan of Avatar, getting to explore Pandora for yourself is a treat that shouldn’t be missed.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Dec. 7, 2023.

Director James Cameron is no stranger to the sci-fi realm. Responsible for The Terminator franchise and Avatar, Cameron literally has three of the four highest grossing movies of all time thanks to the Avatar series and Titanic. But a lesser hit on his filmography, The Abyss, is getting its turn in the spotlight.

The 1989 sci-fi blockbuster is coming to theaters once again for one night only in the U.S. During the promotional tour for Avatar: The Way of Water, Cameron mentioned off-hand that he had a 4K master of The Abyss he was working on releasing in 2023 at some point. While the re-release was scheduled to come in the first half of the year, Titanic‘s 25th anniversary re-release was deemed more important.

However, the underwater thriller starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn is getting its time in the sun. Set for release in theaters on December 6, The Abyss is returning for only one night. With a fresh coat of paint on the entire film in the form of a 4K remaster, Cameron is encouraging anyone whether they’ve seen the film or not to enjoy it in this form going forward.

In a video posted to his Twitter , Cameron said “If you haven’t seen the film before, this is the way to experience it. And if you have, you’ll be seeing the film I actually set out to make, with some big surprises not seen in the original release version.” Most likely Cameron is referring to content included in The Abyss: Special Edition, which was a limited release back in 1993 featuring about 28 additional minutes of content in the film. Since that version would be turning 30 in 2023, many believe this is what motivated Cameron to release the film in theaters again.

For those who’ve never experienced The Abyss, the film focuses on a U.S. search and rescue team working with an oil platform crew to find a U.S. Naval submarine that sank in the Caribbean Sea. However, as they explore deeper into the ocean, they come across new, unexpected threats to their own lives, let alone their mission. Of course, this wasn’t Cameron’s first take on extraterrestrials, as he directed the Alien sequel Aliens just 3 years prior.

Highly regarded for its special effects (which isn’t surprising considering it’s James Cameron), The Abyss actually won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 1990. The film has remained a cult favorite over the past 34 years, praised as an underrated piece of Cameron’s. The Abyss: Special Edition hits theaters in the U.S. on December 6.

Time is the one resource you’re never going to get any more of. So why does Hollywood feel so comfortable siphoning it out of you with movies by Peter Jackson?

It can’t be easy to be a filmmaker and realize that your movie is too long. But there’s a reason that studios hire editors with leathery hearts and cold, calculating demeanors: So we don’t get stuck with more movies like the ones listed below.

Avatar: The Way of Water

I knew that Avatar: The Way of Water was going to be long when my best friend convinced me to put it on. It’s part of why I’d waited until it was streaming to the collective dialogue. The “Avatar: Hold Your Water” jokes were just too right there, you know?

And you wanna know what? It was swell. I was pleasantly surprised. I thinking “Man, why did I think this movie was going to be a chore? It’s hitting all the right notes. It’s scratching every itch you want scratched when you’re going into a blockbuster.” Then I had a question about one of the blue guys, and I hit pause to ask my buddy, and I saw that – an hour and a half in – there were two more hours to go. I screamed at my TV. Like, screamed out loud. It was like some primal impulse pushed its way out of my amygdala and bayed through my body, hoping to frighten off an invading predator. My buddy stopped coming over to watch movies after that, and I blame James Cameron more than I blame myself.

King Kong (2005)

Coming off of the success of the Lord of the Rings movies – and especially the industry-redefining demand for the Extra Interminable Special Edition DVDs – you could almost hear studio executives reacting to the three-hour cut of 2005’s King Kong. “I don’t get it,” they seemed to say, “but I didn’t get the Hobbit stuff either, and that paid for my rad new Chrysler Prowler.”

I was a teenager with alarmingly forgiving taste in movies. I just liked going to the theater. It was an alien feeling, realizing how bored I was, and even more bizarre when I stood up at the end of King Kong’s Skull Island act, thinking that the film was over, only to be disappointed to realize that there was still an entire movie’s worth of movie left to watch. And boy howdy, did it ever feel like a solid third of that movie was made up of that scene where the primate goes ice skating on his little bottom — you know, the stuff people want to see going into a movie about a giant killer ape.

The Sound of Music

The perennial favorite of hungover teachers at the Catholic school I attended from kindergarten to fifth grade due to – as far as I can tell – the fact that there were nuns in it, The Sound of Music has been burned into my brain. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is a three-hour movie about a woman who quits being a nun so she can hook up with a guy and rebel against the Nazis. It should have been a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Instead, this Best Picture-winner exists forever in my head as the two-VHS, never-ending tale of a lady who ruined her boss’s drapes and combined nature’s two greatest crimes: puppets and yodeling. Also, anyone caught on tape singing “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” should be shot into the sun.

Funny People

Sometimes, a director gets too big, and people stop telling them “no.” It happened to Lucas, and we got the prequel trilogy. It happened to Peter Jackson, and we got King Kong. When it happened to comedy icon Judd Apatow, the mind behind The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, we got Funny People, the 146-minute answer to the question “What if Jay Gatsby was sad about being Adam Sandler?”

Eternals

Marvel really opened themselves up to a lot of easy jokes when they tacked the name “Eternals” onto a 2-hour, 36-minute movie about mostly-indiscernible characters whose names you, with a gun to your head, could not possibly correctly. The fact that the heroes are functionally immortal is the only reason they made it to the end of the film. 

Pearl Harbor

Part of the unfortunate post-Titanic push for long-winded historical romances set against scenic catastrophes, 2001’s Pearl Harbor remains on the DVD shelves of millions – not as a cherished favorite, but as a bleak reminder: Don’t trust Michael Bay. He’ll swallow three hours of your life.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Trilogy

I’m not saying anything new here. We all know that The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy that lends itself to an obsessive, detailed adaptation. It is an obsessive, detailed series of books. Conversely, The Hobbit is a children’s story about riddle contests and a scary dragon. At an average pace of 250 words per minute, it would take five hours and 20 minutes to read. It would take around eight hours to watch all three movies that the studio laboriously milked out of it. Blessedly, to this day, no one has ever tried.

The Lone Ranger

Say what you will about director Gore Verbinski’s incomparable eye for vast scope and singular ability to capture the majesty of the open plains. The Lone Ranger was 149 minutes long. You can hardly blame Armie Hammer for walking away a little hungry.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Never has a movie cost so much — and taken so much time — to accomplish so little. Given The Rise of Skywalker’s fraught history and super rushed production, it’s a little surprising that they even had the time to shoot two hours and 22 minutes of footage. 

The Irishman

The quickest way to really sink into the depression inherent in the COVID-19 lockdown was, without a doubt, to look up and realize that you had just watched all 209 minutes of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman in one sitting. The internet was right, 2020 shouldn’t count.

The Lion King (2019)

Generally speaking, you can count on an animated Disney movie for two things. Number one: It’ll have colorful, zany, loveable cartoon characters to keep your kids engaged. Number two: It’ll be short enough to keep said kids’ attention the whole time, allowing you the 88 minutes necessary to take a prime, upright, in-theater nap. 

The original The Lion King? Aces. 10/10 on all fronts, no notes. Some of the happiest memories of my childhood were of sitting in a dollar theater, laughing at Timon and Pumba’s fart jokes while my mom ed out from exhaustion next to me. For whatever reason, the folks at Disney decided that my generation didn’t deserve that same luxury once we grew up, and we got the 2019 Lion King with its two-hour runtime and unsettlingly sad, realistic animals. I couldn’t get ten seconds of shut-eye without the kids shaking me awake and asking questions like “does it hurt Pumba to have teeth like that?” and “when my parents make the ransom drop, will you take me home?” 

Avatar: The Way of Water provided a worthy continuation to the world of Pandora, introduced meticulously by James Cameron 14 years ago. While the essence of the franchise’s two heroes, Jake and Neytiri, carried over from one movie to the other, there were a few new elements to their clan that brought their own special kind of magic to the story.

Viewers last saw the couple happily mated for life at the end of Avatar after stopping the Resources Development istration — led by Colonel Quaritch — from violently occupying Pandora. Beyond the introduction of the Metkayina, an aquatic Na’vi clan who live in Pandora’s reefs, the biggest change to the couple’s lives in The Way of Water came via the introduction of a few fresh mini-mes.

Jake Sully and Neytiri’s kids, biological and adopted

In the years between the 2009 movie and its 2022 sequel, Jake and Neytiri added five to their family, some biological children, and some adopted. Speaking to Empire, director James Cameron explained why it was important to give his protagonists a family in this second installment.

“I look around – I don’t want to specifically say the Marvel Universe, or the DC Universe – at current fantasy and science-fiction and all these heroes seem unbound in the mire of relationships, the stuff that pulls you down and clips your wings, that stops you running around and risking your life. I thought, ‘What if I take these incredible characters of Jake and Neytiri and give them a family?’ That gives them feet of clay right there.”

Miles ‘Spider’ Socorro

Spider, whose nickname comes from his natural ability to climb, is a human teenager who is like a brother to the Sully children. He was born in Hell’s Gate, the base for all human colonial operations, and is 16 at the start of The Way of Water. Spider’s mom, Paz Socorro, died in the final battle in Avatar, and his dad, Colonel Quaritch — the villain of both films — was killed by Neytiri. Orphaned, and too small to be sent back to Earth, Spider was taken in by humans Nash and Mary McCosker, but always preferred to be with the Na’vi in Pandora, particularly Jake and Neytiri’s children.

They grew up together and became like siblings, but Neytiri always found it difficult to separate Spider from the rest of the human species, for which she naturally held contempt, due to the trauma from past hostilities. The matriarch’s anxieties are somewhat confirmed when Colonel Quaritch is essentially brought back to life through a Recombinant (human/Na’vi hybrid soldier), who has been implanted with the man’s memories and personality traits.

Spider is played by Jack Champion, best known for his role in 2018’s The Night Sitter.

Kiri

Kiri is Jake and Neytiri’s adopted 14-year-old daughter. Although we know Kiri is the daughter of Dr. Grace Augustine’s avatar, little is known yet about her origins, including the identity of her father. In The Way of Water, she is portrayed as having a strong connection with Eywa, Avatar‘s version of Mother Nature, as she’s able to feel and communicate with her to a degree. In the film, Kiri tells her adoptive father that she “feels her,” and can “hear her heartbeat.” As Grace died at the Tree of Souls, meeting Eywa in the process, fans have speculated that Kiri could either be directly related to the powerful entity or a reincarnation of Sigourney Weaver’s character.

Like her siblings, Kiri is also part avatar, which is why she has eyebrows and five fingers (the real Na’vi only have four). She and Spider share a special bond based on their family history and separation from their biological parents, but Kiri is also very close with her baby sister Tuk. She is played by Avatar returnee Sigourney Weaver, who played Grace in the first movie.

Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuktirey

Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuktirey are Jake and Neytiri’s biological children. Neteyam is their oldest son, Lo’ak is the younger brother, and Tuktirey is the couple’s youngest daughter.

Neteyam is 15 in The Way of Water, and — as Jake and Neytiri’s oldest son — he is next in line to lead the Omaticaya. Because of Neteyam’s dutiful personality, which inspires trust and a level of preference in his parents, Lo’ak is incredibly jealous of him, and the two often clash. He’s played by British actor Jamie Flatters.

14-year-old Lo’ak is a stand-out character in The Way of Water. He’s the rebellious son, always getting scolded by his parents, and even putting his siblings in danger thanks to his hunger for adventure. He’s also the only of Jake and Neytiri’s biological children with eyebrows and five fingers, like avatars. As a result, he feels misunderstood and singled out, leading in him to act out.

After moving to Awa’atlu, Lo’ak is rescued by a tulkun, a sentient whale-like creature from Pandora, named Payakan. The two bond, but the leader of the Metkayina clan, Tonowari, tells Lo’ak that Payakan has been exiled from his pack for murdering someone, something which is not allowed among its species. He is played by Britain Dalton, best known for playing a young Nathan Drake in the video game Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

As for Tuktirey, she 7 years-old in The Way of Water, and is referred to by her nickname “Tuk”. She is the baby of the family, always eager to go on adventures with her siblings, and curious about the world around her. She is played by The Garcias‘ Trinity Bliss.

The Sully family’s relationship, explained

Despite differences in background and personality, the Sully children are close, as they play and swim together, stick up for each other, and try to help one another when needed. In The Way of Water, they are very much set up as the next generation of Avatar, and the center characters of the three future films James Cameron has planned.

Sam Worthington, who plays Jake, spoke to Empire about how his character’s military background clashes with Neytiri’s pacifist nature, as they decide how to raise their children.

“Jake comes from the point of view of being a Marine and leans into that way of thinking because that’s what was ingrained in him about surviving. Pacifism and militarism are definitely going to come clashing.”

The addition of Jake and Neytiri’s children into the world of Avatar instantly sprouts a number of exciting possibilities for the future of the franchise.

Avatar: The Way of Water is available to rent, buy, or watch now on Disney Plus and Max.

With cinemas only being allowed to open in the country in 2017 following a 30-year ban, you’d think Saudi Arabia would try and ease itself back into the movie business to try and lay a solid foundation before thinking of rapid expansion.

Of course, some of the most determined young filmmakers in the nation have other ideas, and they’re already off to a stellar start after an action-packed comedy about a man who decides that weaponizing a midlife crisis into following his dreams to become a wrestler handily crushed some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters at the local box office.

Telfaz11 co-founders Alaa Fadan, Ibraheem Al Khairallah and Ali Kalthami produced Sattar, which debuted in local multiplexes by knocking Avatar: The Way of Water from the top of the charts to seize the number one spot, and it took just two weeks to become the most successful Saudi production of all-time.

In fact, it sold more nearly as many tickets as Barbie and Oppenheimer combined, with the smash hit caper racking up 903,000 issions compared to the 679,000 of Christopher Nolan’s epic and the 343,000 who filed in to see Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar bonanza.

As they revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, though, they’re not happy resting on their laurels, and there’s much more to come as they try to carve out their own corner of the fast-growing market.

“What’s the population of Saudi? It’s more than 30 million. So where are these other 29 million? Maybe they’re waiting for a horror, maybe they’re waiting for a drama. I don’t know, but we need to open these boxes. We can’t claim that to have had the first Saudi film in cinemas, but we can claim to have had the most successful.”

Looking at the success they’ve found already, you wouldn’t bet against them, either.

Max, formerly known as HBO Max, has already soared to the top of the Nielsen charts with James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Now, the streaming platform has announced that it will also host the original 2009 Avatar this August — so that everyone can fondly unobtanium, Michelle Rodriguez in warpaint, and why Na’vi Jake Sully has more than four fingers.

According to the tweet, Avatar will hit the streamer on Aug. 17, among other films premiering this month, including American Gangster, The Departed, and a series that follows the most hardened criminal of all: Freddy Krueger.

For anyone wondering why Avatar is going to Max when Disney now owns the franchise: It likely relates to a streaming deal between HBO and the once-named 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired it in 2019.

This is why Avatar: The Way of Water has been playing on both Disney Plus and Max in recent months. The double dip helped the sequel reach a whopping 1,941 million minutes viewed when it premiered on both services in early June, according to Nielsen. During that week, it bested silver medalist Manifest on Netflix by 400 million minutes, which equates to 761 more years of viewing!

James Cameron can’t keep breaking records like this, or 2025’s Avatar 3 will end up being the final movie anyone sees for the rest of humanity.

We’re glad that completists will have access to the first Avatar on Max, allowing them to better understand the sequel. However, in our opinion, The Way of Water sures the original in every aspect, making it largely redundant. The action, the CGI, the character work, the story — everything is better and more interesting in the sequel, likely because Jake Sully is no longer the narrative’s focal point.

You see, Jake Sully is boring. But his children must live in the shadow of his great deeds and also conform to a foreign society just because Jake wants to hide rather than fight his nemesis, which is not so boring. Even explaining the setup of Way of Water is more riveting than anything shown in the first film — which also contains lines like, “That’s right! Who’s bad?!”

Avatar will stream on Max in about two weeks, but something tells us that people will be drawn in by The Way of Water far more often.

Hollywood has always been entranced by spectacle, investing millions into creating blockbusters that aim to amuse and delight audiences even if just by scale alone. Almost since Hollywood’s conception, filmmakers have been spending big bucks to make big films; beginning with Golden Age films like Gone With the Wind, movie audiences fell for the charm of a big-budget production.

In the 1970s, blockbusters began to dominate the big screen. Films like Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and George Lucas’ Star Wars: A New Hope captivated audiences worldwide and going to the movies started to feel like even more of a phenomenon; those same filmmakers would go on to make franchises like Indiana Jones and Star Wars popular. Sequels had existed in prior years, but franchises were just starting to come into the mainstream, leading to our current movie climate where nearly every studio-backed film is part of a franchise.

These films justify their high budgets by generating profits that can be as high as billions of dollars, and while big-budget films are frequent now, some still stand out for just how insanely expensive they are. That said, as new movies come out every day, you might notice some of the usual suspects are absent from this list (Titanic surprisingly didn’t make the cut, coming in at number 11). Here are the 10 most expensive films made so far.

10. Fast X (2023)

Budget: $340 million

Box Office: $722.8 million

Starting off our list is the latest installment in the Fast and Furious film franchise, which comes in with a budget of $340 million. The newest film in the franchise is actually the first half of the finale and with a budget like that, what a grand finale it is. Like most Fast and Furious movies, Fast X is a wild ride but it is a fun one. As the series of films starring Vin Diesel comes to an end (though with nearly unlimited potential for spin-offs, it’s unlikely this is truly the end), sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

9. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Budget: $350 million

Box Office: $2.32 billion

The sequel to the immensely profitable 2009 film Avatar was first announced in 2010 but faced delays due to the film’s unprecedented nature; the crew literally had to develop new technology in order to film motion capture scenes underwater and wouldn’t begin shooting until 2017. All those delays, as well as the number of visual effects needed to pull off a film of this magnitude, means Avatar: The Way of Water was a pricey movie to make — and some reports estimate the budget was as high as $450 million. Either way, the film was an absolute smash at the box office and continues to do numbers on streaming. See you when the next one comes out in ten years!

8. Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Budget: $325 million ($379 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.052 billion

The first of many Disney movies on this list (spoiler: they make up most of the top spots), Avengers: Infinity War was an incredibly ambitious project, bringing together every protagonist from the entire MCU in one big blockbuster of a film. The movie is truly a spectacle, filled with action and so many moving pieces that it’s easy to get lost in it all. As one would expect of such a gigantic film, the budget for this was bonkers — and with so many big names attached, I wouldn’t be surprised if a sizable chunk of that budget was just for the actors’ paychecks.

7. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Budget: $356 million ($407 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.799 billion

The second half of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame was released a year after the prior film, likely in order to prevent people from imploding after that ending (“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good” still brings a tear to my eye). This film is even bigger and crazier than Infinity War, so it makes sense that it would have an even higher budget. There are a lot of moving parts in a movie this big and the finale of the first decade of MCU films was an expensive one. Endgame signified the end of an era for Marvel Studios (specifically the end of the Infinity Saga), with several of the MCU’s main heroes ending their tenure as part of the Avengers. While there have been some hits, the following Phases have lacked the writing of this earlier era — and evidently, the budgets.

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

Budget: $300 million ($423 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $961.6 million

The third film — originally intended to be the last — in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the most expensive film ever made at the time. After the success of The Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney contracted the cast and crew for two sequels. The first two films were both largely popular with critics and general audiences, but At World’s End was a bit more polarizing. Despite mixed reviews and lower audience turnout in the North American market, the film still went on to be the highest-grossing film of 2007, thanks to its success internationally.

5. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Budget: $365 million ($451 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.403 billion

Initially, I was surprised that this film has a higher budget than both Infinity War and Endgame, but then I ed Ultron literally lifted an entire city into the air with the goal of causing a mass extinction event and I feel like making that look real cost a ton of money. Similarly to the other films, there’s a lot of crossover and new characters being introduced here, add in all the different locations and extensive visual effects post-production, you’ll understand why Age of Ultron cost a pretty penny.

4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Budget: $416 million ($476 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.077 billion

Hollywood loves a trilogy; so when the new Star Wars film came out in 2015, I knew it was only time before more (specifically two) followed. The Rise of Skywalker was the final film of the trilogy and despite mixed reviews, it went on to gross over $1 billion, which was still somehow less than the other two films. Having different writers and directors per each film made this a confusing trilogy, but it’s fun to look at!

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Budget: $416 million ($492 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.406 billion

Wow, this movie made a lot of money. This is definitely a good thing for the people behind it because the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film also cost an almost unfathomable amount of money to make. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides focuses more on Jack Sparrow with a new story and was criticized for its plot and action sequences.

That being said, critical success doesn’t necessarily relate to commercial success and the film went on to gross a ton of money in foreign markets. While the Pirates of the Caribbean films don’t seem to do as well in the U.S., their continued success internationally led to a fifth (and slightly less expensive) film.

2. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Budget: $432 million ($503 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $1.31 billion

Every theatrical film in the Jurassic Park universe is a blockbuster but this one cost the most to make. After 2015’s Jurassic World proved itself a hit, there was only one thing for the studio to do: make another one (and then another one…). Critics began to get franchise fatigue with this one but audiences were still showing up in theater suits to the tune of $1.3 billion. Was it Chris Pratt (possibly)? Was it the dinosaurs (likely)? Was it Bryce Dallas Howard (probably, she’s an angel). Whatever it is, this is one franchise that just won’t go extinct.

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Budget: $447 million ($552 million in 2023 dollars)

Box Office: $2.071 billion

After the polarizing prequel trilogy, fans were a little burnt out on Star Wars. Lucasfilm’s answer was to wait ten years and introduce new characters while bringing back old favorites in an attempt to capture the nostalgia of watching Star Wars for the first time. Given the astounding box office gross, it’s safe to say the attempt worked.

Following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, the production company began working on a new film in order to capture the hearts of new and existing fans alike. Whether the trilogy lives up to its promise is up to you, but with a profit like that, the film was fortunately worth the hefty investment. To this day, The Force Awakens is the most expensive film ever made.

By now, we share a love/hate relationship with Black Mirror, but people clearly can’t stop watching it after the latest Nielsen streaming ratings named it as the number one most-watched show on-demand.

In the first week after its release it topped the streaming chart and sured a formidable behemoth, Avatar: The Way of Water. With 1.36 billion minutes of viewing time, the Netflix sci-fi thriller was at the zenith of its game in the initial weeks, while Cameron’s sequel lagged behind the competition by 45 percent, albeit managing to clear the billion-minute mark.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, rather than climbing the charts, the film lost once again lost to the popular action drama S.W.A.T. whose streaming timing being 1.21 billion minutes further pushed Cameron’s renowned entry into the third place.

While Avatar seems to be dragged down, Black Mirror proved successful in grasping attention, and for weeks it managed to outshine Netflix’s other well-known favorites like Never Have I Ever and Manifest to name just two, which failed to even reach the billion mark.

Aside from the divided opinions around the plot, Black Mirror’s status as one of Netflix’s most popular outputs continues to remain the same as the series over the years has stood out amongst its genre bedfellows by presenting a dystopian future world infected by technology in the most terrifying manner, the scariest part of all being that it’s not even too far-fetched anymore.

when Avatar: The Way of Water was in theaters and pulled in more money than a Taylor Swift concert tour? Turns out that kind of pull translates well into streaming, because it’s smashing those records as well.

The movie hit Disney Plus and Max on June 7 and immediately soared to the number one spot for the week of June 5 to June 11 with a very impressive 1.9 billion viewing minutes. That number is between both services by the way. The Nielsen numbers, per Deadline, also showed that the movie was a big hit with younger audiences, who make up three fourths of viewers under 50 and half of viewers under 30. Not too shabby.

For people who haven’t seen the movie, The Way of Water is a sequel to the 2009 epic Avatar, about a futuristic world where humans want to colonize a lush livable moon called Pandora. The sequel continues the story started in that film.

To put this in perspective, the James Cameron directed movie crushed its nearest streaming competitor by 400 million minutes. Just for fun, that’s 761 years! Nielsen also released the rest of the streaming chart as well.

Also in the top ten: Manifest, S.W.A.T., Never Have I Ever, and F.U.B.A.R. Here’s the full list, courtesy of Nielsen.

It’s worth talking about just how popular this movie has been. People couldn’t get enough of the special effects and broad narrative, and it made more than $2.3 billion all around the world.