Uncovering the secrets of the Na'vi
As some of the most commercially successful yet expensive movies ever made, the Avatar films naturally raise curiosity about how exactly the hundreds of millions of dollars were spent during their production of James Cameron's Avatar films.
Now, after previous smaller-scale Making Of features for Avatar (2009), Disney decided to finally capitalize on this inherent intrigue by announcing a full-on two-part documentary detailing the development of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025).
Solid Source Material
Just the fact that The Way of Water was originally supposed to release in 2014 should tell you that the history of the films is definitely documentary-worthy. Following his first breakout directorial role with The Terminator (1984), James Cameron has consistently approached his works with only the highest of amibitions, sometimes even higher than would be reasonable.
Like the first Avatar, the 2022 sequel pushed the boundaries of visual effects by combining underwater motion-capture with advanced water simulation systems, with the studio having to invent new rendering pipelines to simulate interactions among skin, hair, air, spray, and light, handling petabytes of data alongside the complex task of underwater filming.
As for Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is set to release on December 19, 2025, the team had to come up with safe ways of integrating convincing fire effects into the filming progress. This is especially challenging considering Cameron's insistence on using practical effects and later digitally enhancing them instead of fully animating any sequences.
A New Perspective
Accordingly, discovering the creative and logistical process behind the movies could be of interest not only to those fascinated by Cameron's alien epic, but to fans of movies in general. On October 15, 2025, a trailer for a two-part documentary detailing exactly these processes was uploaded to the official Avatar YouTube channel.
Titled Fire And Water: Making The Avatar Films, the documentary will be available on streaming service Disney+ starting November 7, 2025. Disney had previously purchased 20th Century Fox, the production studio and co-owners of the Avatar franchise. The documentary is set to specifically highlight the innovations accomplished during the development process:
"Nothing is ever easy, but we learned so much... And that's why we wanted to give you a glimpse into the spirit of the making of the film." – Director James Cameron
Whether the two parts will release at the same time or one – potentially dedicated to Fire and Ash – will only come out after the movie's December 2025 release is not yet known. For those who just can't wait, the official trailer for the documentary can be found here.