“I’d Put a Shotgun in My Mouth”: James Cameron Explains the 9-Hour Version of “Avatar 3.”

James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ films are massive sci-fi adventures with impressive visual power and epic running times. “Avatar – Departure to Pandora” lasts 2 hours and 42 minutes, “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” even lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes. It didn’t seem so unrealistic when a rumor spread some time ago that Cameron had presented a nine-hour rough cut of “Avatar 3.” But now James Cameron made it clear: this is all nonsense – his statement was misinterpreted.

James Cameron and ‘Avatar’ producer Jon Landau spoke at the Saturn Awards . Cameron took the opportunity to dispel the rumor of a nine-hour cut of “Avatar 3” once and for all – and was quite shocked at the idea that he would have done such a thing:

“There’s no such thing as a nine-hour rough cut! If I ever… I’d put a shotgun in my mouth if I ever rough cut for nine hours. No, what I said was it was nine o’clock exists, so ‘Avatar3‘, ‘Avatar 4’ and ‘Avatar 5’. That’s, you know, three hours per movie. Somehow it became a nine-hour… Can you imagine? He [Jon Landau] would shoot me.”

The refutation of this rumor couldn’t be clearer – and Jon Landau, standing next to James Cameron during the interview, promptly added: “I would shoot myself.”

So probably no “Avatar” miniseries on Disney+

In addition to the speculation about a nine-hour version of “Avatar 3,” there was also a rumor about what it would be used for: It was rumored that after the theatrical release of “Avatar 3” could be made from the existing material an “Avatar” miniseries for Disney+ created – basically “Avatar 3” as a super extended cut. However, if the filmmakers didn’t lie in the interview, which based on their honest horror they probably didn’t, it won’t happen.

“Avatar 3” will hit theaters on December 17, 2025. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang will be there again – and probably Matt Gerald too, as just announced: