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In a pre-recorded message to CinemaCon from his post-production facility in New Zealand, James Cameron introduced Zoe Saldaña to present the first-ever footage from Avatar: Fire and Ash, in theaters December 19th.
“The Sully family are really put through the ringer on this one as they face not only the human invaders, but new adversaries: the Ash People,” Cameron said in his introduction.
Roughly five minutes from the film were presented in 3D, two sequences followed by a sizzle reel. The focus of the footage presented to an audience of theater execs and press was to show an expanded look at new corners and cultures in the world of Pandora.
Two new groups of Na’vi are introduced in this third Avatar film: the Tlalim clan, aka the Windtraders, and the Mangkwan Clan, aka the Ash People. The former are nomads who “sail” the skies like sailors from the Golden Age of Sail, while the latter are baddies who have rejected their deity and the ways of the Na’vi after a volcano left their homeland a desolate wreck covered in ash.
Zoe Saldaña is back on the #CinemaCon stage to introduce Avatar: Fire and Ash. pic.twitter.com/RS8T21L4O5
— Avatar (@officialavatar) April 3, 2025
David Thewlis plays Peylak, the leader of the Windtraders, while Oona Chaplin plays the Ash People’s sinister leader, Varang. Both are featured in the footage that was shown at CinemaCon, which began with a series of images showing the expanded look at Pandora.
Then a sequence shows Jake Sully, Neytiri, their kids Lo’ak and Tuk, Kiri, and Spider living among the high-flying Windtraders whose sky boats fly with membrane-like sails that look like jellyfish. They’re then attacked from above by a raiding party of Ash People.
It then transitioned into more of an extended trailer featuring lots of action and battles in the air and land, with Varang at one point telling Neytiri that “her God has no dominion here.”
The footage – which was as eye-popping and visceral as viewers have come to expect from the Avatar films – was presented in 3D and in a high frame rate to provide an immersive, sensory experience.
