We are approximately five months away from returning to Pandora in Avatar: Fire and Ash. Besides a few posters and concept art, Disney’s 20th Century Studios has not released many promotional materials for the third Avatar movie. That changes this week with the arrival of the Fire and Ash trailer. However, you’ll need to head to the theater to watch.
In a post on Avatar’s X account, it was revealed that the trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash will run exclusively in theaters this weekend before screenings of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The post includes an image of Varang, a new character introduced in the film.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is using a similar tactic employed by Universal, who paired the teaser trailer of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey before showings of Jurassic Park Rebirth.
Meet Varang in Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Be among the first to watch the trailer, exclusively in theaters this weekend with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. pic.twitter.com/MZi0jhBCI5
The first footage from Fire and Ash ran at CinemaCon in April. Since then, select press members have seen the trailer at Fantastic Four screenings. According to Entertainment Weekly, the trailer primarily focused on the Mangkwan Clan, a new Na’vi clan known as the Ash people. Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, is the leader of the Ash Clan, who inhabit the land near an active volcano.
The Mangkwan Clan is not friendly. They soon come into conflict with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family. EW reports that the footage shows Neytiri firing arrows at the Ash Clan, while Varang holds a flamethrower.
Avatar creator James Cameron previously stated that he wanted to blur the lines between good and evil by introducing a darker portrayal of the Na’vi.
“Varang is the leader of a people who have gone through an incredible hardship. She’s hardened by that,” Cameron explained. “One thing we wanted to do in this film is not black-and-white simplistic. We’re trying to evolve beyond the ‘all humans are bad, all Na’vi are good’ paradigm.’”
The trailer also previews another Na’vi clan, the Wind Traders, a more peaceful group who float on gigantic creatures in the clouds. Plus, the RDA remains a top threat to the Na’vi.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is the third film in the franchise, following 2009’s Avatar and 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, two of the three highest-grossing films of all time. Avatar ranks first at $2.9 billion, and The Way of Water is third with $2.3 billion.
Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in theaters on December 19, 2025. Two more Avatar sequels are in development. Avatar 4 is slated for December 2029, and Avatar 5 is scheduled for December 2031.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.