Fire and Ash’ When It Was Even Longer

The world premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash takes place on Monday, December 1, in Los Angeles, CA. That’s almost three weeks before the film will be released in theaters on December 19, which means Disney is incredibly confident in the film. It has no problem with reactions leaking out early, presumably because the company thinks it has another James Cameron smash on its hands. Whether or not that’s true, we’ll find out soon.

That kind of confidence usually comes right from the top, though, and in a new interview, Avatar creator and director James Cameron talked about Disney CEO Bob Iger’s initial reaction to the film.

“[Iger] doesn’t weigh in until it’s something for me to show,” Cameron said to Puck News. “His comment when he watched [Fire and Ash] for the first time, even though it was at three hours, 23 minutes, not including credits at that point, so it’s gotten about 18 minutes shorter since then. He said, ‘Yeah, I know you’re going to keep chopping away at it. But it’s magnificent.’ He basically said, ‘I love this film.’ And it was interesting because there were other heads on the Zoom that were bringing up notes. And he said, ‘Yeah, you know, I didn’t have a problem with that.’ And he basically shot them down on their notes. And I was like, ‘Okay, we’re done here.’”

Well, not done, considering the film is now three hours and 17 minutes with credits. So Cameron did nip and tuck a bit. But Iger’s early reaction is an indicator of why the company is letting the film out into the public so early. Which, for context, is not usual. Most major Disney films don’t screen for press or industry until the week of release. But this is 18 days before release. Apparently, and hopefully, “it’s magnificent,” as Iger said.

We’ll have much, much more on Avatar: Fire and Ash in the coming weeks. It opens December 19.

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