Avatar Movies in Order: Release and Chronological

The Avatar movies in order of release are Avatar (2009), Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), and James Cameron directed all three. Each one is a theatrical feature, and there are no spin-offs among them, so the list is short and nothing needs to be skipped.

1. Avatar (2009), directed by James Cameron: released in the US on December 18, 2009, running 162 minutes.
2. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), directed by James Cameron: released in the US on December 16, 2022, running 192 minutes.
3. Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025), directed by James Cameron: released in the US on December 19, 2025, running 198 minutes.

The gaps are uneven. Thirteen years separate the first film from The Way of Water, while Fire and Ash followed three years after that. In the UK the three films opened on the same day as in the US, and in Australia each one opened a day earlier (December 17, 2009, December 15, 2022 and December 18, 2025).

A quick word on the name, because search results blur two things together. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a different franchise and is not on this list. Everything here belongs to the Avatar series set on Pandora, and the Avatar movies hub covers the whole series in one place.

All three films stream on Disney Plus in the US, the UK and Australia, according to JustWatch data on TMDB. For rental and purchase options in each country, see where to watch Avatar. The next film in line is Avatar 4, and the full count is covered under how many Avatar movies are there.

Start with Avatar (2009), because the sequels lean on characters it introduces. In my opinion that is the only sensible entry point: Jake Sully, Neytiri and Quaritch carry through all three films, and Sigourney Weaver appears in each one, as Grace Augustine in the first and as Kiri in the other two. Quaritch's return in The Way of Water as a recombinant, a Na'vi body carrying the memories of a dead soldier, carries more weight if you met the original colonel first. Perhaps you could follow the later films cold, but it could be argued that they are written for viewers who already know who Jake and Neytiri are.

How long does the whole run take? The three films add up to 552 minutes, which is about nine hours and twelve minutes. The Way of Water and Fire and Ash each run over three hours, so I would give each its own evening instead of stacking them, much as you would pace a long television series. If you saw the first film years ago, I would still rewatch it, since at 162 minutes it is the shortest of the three and the quickest way to refresh the setup that the sequels build on.

Can you watch Avatar 4 yet? That being said, nobody can. Disney has it on the schedule for December 21, 2029, but TheWrap described the date as tentative in April 2026, and James Cameron said he had not made a decision to go forward. Avatar 5 is dated for December 19, 2031. Status, cast and rumors for the fourth film are collected under Avatar 4, and an official Avatar 4 trailer has not been released.

If you are new to the series, start tonight with Avatar (2009) on Disney Plus, then move on to the other two in release order. Once you have finished, Avatar movies ranked gives my verdict on each.