Zoe Saldana has the perfect response to Avatar delays

Avatar: The Way of Water
(Image credit: Disney/20th Century Studios)

Zoe Saldaña had the perfect reaction to finding out that Avatar 3, 4, and 5 are delayed.

"Great! I’m gonna be 53 when the last ‘Avatar’ comes out," Saldaña wrote via Instagram story along with a shocked face emoji. "I was 27 when I shot the very first Avatar."

Avatar 3, initially slated for a December 20, 2024 release, has been moved to December 19, 2025. Avatar 4 has shifted from December 18, 2026 to December 21, 2029; and Avatar 5 is now arriving on December 19, 2031. 

This means the last Avatar movie in the franchise will be released 22 years after the original 2009 film. James Cameron will be 77 at the time of its release, with star Sam Worthington turning 55. We'd be lying if we said we didn't feel old.

Avatar: The Way of Water has made $2.2433 billion at the global box office since it was released in December 2022. The only two movies above the sequel in the all-time rankings are the first Avatar movie at $2.9 billion and Avengers: Endgame at $2.7 billion. It's now the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, overtaking Titanic, another Cameron-directed movie.

"Each Avatar film is an exciting but epic undertaking that takes time to bring to the quality level we as filmmakers strive for and audiences have come to expect," producer Jon Landau wrote on Twitter. “The team is hard at work and can’t wait to bring audiences back to Pandora in December 2025.”

For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2023 and beyond.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.