When Will the 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Teaser Release?
Updated on 4/16/2025
It's that time of year, and speculation is once again circulating about when to expect the first teaser trailer for James Cameron's next return to Pandora this December. While there is a fair amount of information available to us, at this time there is no confirmed date that the teaser trailer is scheduled to release to the public. With that said, we wanted to examine the facts and provide some well-educated guesses on when we might get our first glimpse at Avatar: Fire and Ash this spring. To start, let's look at what happened for Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022.
On April 27th, 2022, the first known footage of The Way of Water was debuted to attendees of CinemaCon, one of the United States' largest cinema conventions which is held in Las Vegas. Though the footage was not revealed to the public, attendees described clips of several underwater sequences, action, the Tulkun and more. Descriptions of the footage vary, so it is hard to tell if the footage shown was the same that would later be released as the official teaser trailer.
Almost two weeks later, on May 9th, the official teaser was finally released at 7am on a Monday. It immediately broke the internet, trending on Twitter within minutes and amassing more than 20 million views across all platforms. However, it is worth noting that prior to the official release, the teaser trailer had leaked online several days before. The leak happened because the trailer was attached to Marvel's Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which began running in theaters around that time. This leak very well may have accelerated Disney's timeline for releasing the official teaser. After the May 9th teaser, it wouldn't be until November 2nd that we would receive our second and fully fledged trailer. The extreme gap in marketing also seems to indicate that the teaser trailer may have been released earlier than planned.
Looking forward, what does this mean for Fire and Ash marketing? If there's one thing we know about Cameron, it's that he has a formula. Chances are high that the first footage of Fire and Ash will debut at CinemaCon in April. However, this footage will not be available to the public, and will be exclusive to attendees of the event and press. So when should we expect the Avatar: Fire and Ash trailer to hit the public? Coincidentally, Marvel has another film releasing in May this year: Thunderbolts*. If the pattern is followed, we can reasonably expect that the first Fire and Ash teaser will release alongside Thunderbolts* in May as a way of driving audiences to see the film. It certainly worked for us in 2022.
At least, that's what we thought a month ago. Since then, our hunch about CinemaCon proved to be correct, with the first footage debuting to private audiences on April 4th. Everything seemed to be on track for a repeat of 2022's schedule until yesterday, when a reputable Disney insider reported that instead of Fire and Ash, the trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps would be attached to the May Thunderbolts* release. This casts significant doubt on the prospect of the Fire and Ash trailer arriving as soon as expected. While still a possibility, we now have to look at other Disney marketing techniques to understand when the Avatar: Fire and Ash teaser will release.
A "normal" marketing cycle for a Disney film typically begins anywhere from 6 to 8 months in advance of the film's scheduled release date. That certainly places us within the right window for a teaser trailer, but there is a catch. The Disney theatrical slate is a lot more full in 2025 than it was in 2022, which means there are other, more imminent films that are likely to be atop the priority chain. Fantastic Four, Lilo and Stitch, and Tron: Ares all complicate predictions of when the Fire and Ash teaser will release. There is, however, one consistency to the marketing for all of these films: A teaser teaser. That's right. In each case, Disney has announced the day the trailer will drop by releasing a short clip, teasing that the trailer is imminent. Odds are high that we will see a similar, en vogue strategy used for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
In conclusion, the absolute earliest we would expect to see an Avatar: Fire and Ash teaser trailer in 2025 will be at the beginning of May, following previous years' formula. If the other films in Disney's 2025 slate delay the start of marketing, then it could be as late as July before the first trailer drops. We monitor news like this very closely, so be sure to keep an eye on our social media and our Discord for breaking and verified news!
Editor's note: A previous version of this article speculated that the Avatar: Fire and Ash teaser would release alongside Thunderbolts*. The article has been corrected and expanded to account for new information.
<< Back to Blog