One 2025 movie is guaranteed to make $2 billion

In 2025, the king of the box office world returns: Avatar 3 is coming, and just like its predecessors, it’ll prove the ‘skxawngs’ wrong and make billions of dollars. 

2024’s box office chart has been defined by sequels: Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine are the only two movies to cross the billion-dollar mark, and you need to go all the way to 15th place (It Ends with Us: $350m) to find a movie that isn’t some sort of follow-up (Wicked is effectively a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, so it doesn’t get away with it). 

It bodes well for 2025, which is the year of big sequels: Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, 28 Years Later, Wicked For Good, Mortal Kombat 2, and The Accountant 2 (okay, maybe that’s just for me). 

However, they’ll all have to bow down to the might of James Cameron, who’s returning to the big screen to melt our eyeballs with Avatar: Fire and Ash. I’m calling it now: it’ll be the biggest movie of the year, easily. 

Avatar 3 is destined to be the biggest movie of 2025 

20th Century Studios

Avatar: Fire and Ash hits cinemas on December 19, 2025. If you look at the theatrical calendar, it’s clear as day that other studios are terrified to compete; you’ve got Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 on December 5, and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants is dropping on the same day as Avatar. 

Before that, there’s Zootopia 2 on November 26, so that will enjoy a three-week lead at the box office before Avatar 3. 

Let’s get something straight: if you’re one of these people who vow Avatar hasn’t had any cultural impact and you’re doubting Avatar 3’s mileage at the box office… grow up. You’re probably annoying about other things, too, so this is a good place to correct yourself. 

Just look at the figures: the first Avatar movie is still the highest-grossing movie of all time, with its total haul standing at $2.924 billion – and it’ll probably cross the $3 billion barrier with a re-release before Fire and Ash. It’s fended off Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.059bn), Avengers: Infinity War ($2.048bn), and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.909bn). 

20th Century Studios

It was briefly dethroned by Avengers: Endgame ($2.748bn)… until Disney put Avatar back in cinemas for a couple of weeks and took the top spot back. If you think people don’t love Avatar, you’re wrong. 

If that isn’t enough, Avatar: The Way of Water premiered in 2022, 13 years after the first film. It made $2.318 billion worldwide – that makes it the third-biggest movie in box office history. With Titanic, Cameron is responsible for three of the biggest movies ever made. 

That’s not to say other films won’t be incredibly successful next year; the Minecraft movie could be a serious performer, all of the MCU’s releases could do well (or not), and if Jurassic World: Rebirth does as well as Dominion (dreadful film, by the way), it’ll join the billion-dollar club too. 

However, only one movie has a chance of reaching $2 billion, and that’s Avatar: Fire and Ash. Naysayers accept defeat now. “If you can’t get out of it, get into it.” 

In the meantime, check out our list of 2025 movies you should be excited about and the best movies of 2024.