Mann Calls Avatar 3 His Top 2025 Pick Despite Mixed Reviews
The Heat director surprises critics by naming Cameron's three-hour epic as the year's standout film, while mixed reviews couldn't stop its $1bn box office run.
The legendary filmmaker behind Heat has made his choice for 2025's best movie, and it might surprise you. Michael Mann picked Avatar: Fire and Ash as his top film of the year, even though critics weren't exactly raving about James Cameron's latest three-hour epic.
Released in December, the third Avatar movie somehow managed to slip under many people's radar. Strange thing is, despite getting pretty average reviews, it still raked in over $1bn worldwide. The film now ranks as the 39th highest-grossing movie ever made, continuing Cameron's saga about the Na'vi tribe and their dragon-riding adventures on Pandora.
Mann Praises Cameron's Vision
Speaking to Variety, Mann didn't hold back his enthusiasm. "Jim Cameron's third Avatar: Fire and Ash is a massive achievement," he said. "The towering originality of Jim's visualization is a given; what makes Fire and Ash so potent is its believability."
That's quite a statement considering we're talking about nine-foot-tall blue humanoids with tails living on a distant moon. But Mann doubled down on his praise, adding something even bolder about Cameron's world-building abilities.
A Future Masterpiece?
"No writer-director I can think of has invented as large a three-dimensional world of his own imagining as has Jim," Mann continued. "Fire and Ash, on its own, is an incredible achievement. From some point in the future, when regarded historically, the whole of Avatar will be seen as the magnum opus it truly is."
We won't know if Mann's prediction holds true until 2031, when Cameron plans to release the fifth and final Avatar film. That date sounds like science fiction itself, but it's real.
Heat 2 Moving Forward
More exciting news for Mann fans: Heat 2 is finally moving ahead. The director wrote the novel back in 2022, and now the film adaptation looks ready for production. The cast reads like a Hollywood dream team: Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Christian Bale, Austin Butler, and Bradley Cooper.
Meanwhile, Cameron found time between Avatar projects to direct a 3D concert film featuring Billie Eilish's tour, called Hit me Hard and Soft. Because apparently regular concert films weren't challenging enough for the Titanic director.