Avatar: Fire and Ashhas the potential to surpass many famous film series at the box office in 2025, which could be a huge embarrassment to long-established franchises. In just two films, James Cameron’sAvatarseries has already become one of the most lucrative movie franchises ever conceived,making a whopping cumulative $5.24 billion.
Ifthe upcomingAvatar: Fire and Ashfollows the financial precedent set by the first two films, the completed initial trilogy can beat multiple established properties. The originalAvatarremains the highest-grossing movie of all time with $2.9 billion, and its sequel,The Way of Water, is at no. 3 with $2.3 billion.
Many alreadyassumeFire and Ashwill follow in these footsteps and earn $2 billion, and there’s even reason to believe it could go bigger now that the gap between installments is far shorter. This major upset could be a harsh reality for several franchises who have had far more time and greater volumes of movies to achieve the same goals.
7Despicable Me
Current Total: $5.6 Billion Over 6 Movies
One of the most wildly successful film franchises of all time, theDespicable Mefilms have quietly become the biggest fully-animated box office winners in history. This success can mostly be attributed to the pop culture dominance of the Minions, who have practically become the animated mascots of the 2010s and beyond.
It’s honestly astonishing that small yellow creatures babbling nonsense words have created as much wealth for Illumination Entertainment as they have, butDespicable Me’s cumulative gross isn’t that far off fromAvatar’s.Fire and Ashwould need to earn a mere $400 million in order to surpass the animated franchise, and there’s little question that it will do just that and more.
ForDespicable Me, losing its spot as one of the most commercially successful film series toAvatar: Fire and Ashwouldn’t be that embarrassing; in fact, it’s downright expected.
6Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth
Current Total: $5.9 Billion Over 6 Movies
A titanic icon of fantasy filmmaking that, in all honestly, paved the way forAvatarto succeed,Peter Jackson’sThe Lord of the Ringsmovies are box office powerhouses for good reason. However, it wasn’t until the more divisiveHobbittrilogy was released that the Tolkien franchise as a whole was able to breach the $5 billion mark in theaters.
It isn’t all that embarrassing for James Cameron to lap them in only half as many movies. TheLord of the Ringsmovies were largely released during a different moviegoing era, and they found immense critical acclaim. In fact,2003’sReturn of the Kingshares the record for the most Oscars won by a single movie withBen-Hurand Cameron’s ownTitanic.
In other words,The Lord of the Ringshas already accomplished a lot and cemented its place in movie history. Compared to other franchises with sprawling numbers of spin-offs, the two Tolkien trilogies can escape the battle for pop culture supremacy with their pride mostly intact.
5Jurassic Park
Current Total: $6.8 Billion Over 7 Movies
When it comes to the box office, theJurassic Parkmovies are no joke, with the requel revivalJurassic Worldearning a coveted spot among the top tenhighest-grossing movies ever made. Indeed, the sci-fi series has been legendary ever since Stephen Spielberg’s original classic, but its spot in the movie franchise food chain is already threatened by Cameron.
With seven full theatrical releases as ofJurassic World Rebirth, which is still playing in theaters, the prehistoric adventure films are still far from extinct. That being said,their less-than-stellar critical consensus means it isn’t shockingthey’ll be surpassed byAvatarin only three movies. The franchise is still formidable, considering it earned over $6 billion globally with no recognizable I.P. to begin with.
4Transformers
Current Total: $5.4 Billion Over 9 Movies
One long-running film franchise theAvatarduology has already nearly surpassed is theTransformersmovie series. The robots in disguise have been a significant force at the box office, especially overseas, across multiple distinct eras, from the original ’80s movies to Michael Bay’s reign in the late aughts onwards.
Sadly,the latest all-animated take on the Transformers,Transformers One, was a massive box office flop, despite being the franchise’s best critically-received entry in years. Boasting nine individual movies, it’d be quite an embarrassing upset to see Cameron overtake the Transformers' cumulative box office earnings with three times fewer films.
3Fast & Furious
Current Total: $7.2 Billion Over 11 Movies
Few movie titles have spawned series as sprawling astheFast & Furiousmovies, starring Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto. Going from a relatively grounded crime series to a high-flying, explosive tentpole action franchise with unbelievable stunts, it’s not hard to see how the continued success of the films has changed their scope and ambitions.
With ten feature films and one spin-off set in the same universe, theFast & Furiousseries has become an undisputed box office champion with over $7 billion worldwide. However, ifAvatar: Fire and Ashfollows its predecessors and earns over $2 billion,Cameron’s series will soar past Diesel’s.
It’s almost laughable that theAvatarmovies have already gained as much distance onFast & Furiousas they have.Fast & Furiouseven had the potential to put more space between them with the release of the eleventh main movie, but production has unfortunately been stalled for some time. It likely won’t be able to catch up withAvatar.
2The Fox X-Men Series
Current Total: $6.1 Billion Over 13 Movies
A rare completed franchise going up againstAvatar, the modern dominance of the superhero movie owes a lot toFox’s originalX-Menseries. The rights may have reverted back to Marvel Studios now, but Fox had an impressive run piloting the beloved comic book mutants. At the same time, it was also a run that occasionally saw diminishing returns.
Having somewhere between 13 and 14 films depending on whether or not the MCU-affiliatedDeadpool & Wolverinecan be counted,the Fox X-Men have a significant lead on James Cameron’s sci-fi saga, with a total gross of over $6 billion(excludingD&W).Avatar: Fire and Ashpropelling the franchise pastX-Menwould be an unbelievable upset, considering the prominenceX-Menonce held and the number of movies it produced.
1The DCEU
Current Total: $7.2 Billion Over 15 Movies
Now officially finished in the wake of the DC Studios takeover, the former DC Extended Universe has left behind an uneven legacy. While the critical consensus was very mixed, often skewing more negative, the fact is thatthe DCEU filmsmade well over $7 billion across 15 movies.
Yet ifAvatar: Fire and Ashmakes close to whatThe Way of Waterdid, Cameron’s sci-fi epic will have no problem beating the DCEU.Several DCEU installments underperformed when they were released, which is one of the reasons why Warner Bros. is now revamping the property with the DC Universe.
Still, considering how the DCEU had Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman on its side, its performance is unquestionably disappointing. IfAvatar: Fire and Ashactually surpassed a long-running film series with five times as many movies at the box office, it would be a monumental embarrassment that could never be lived down.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Cast
Avatar: Fire and Ash is a 2025 science fiction film continuing the saga of Pandora. Jake Sully and Neytiri confront a formidable new enemy, the Ash People, led by Varang. Struggling with personal loss and external threats, they strive to protect their family and Pandora’s future.
