Disney boss Bob Iger called Avatar 3 "magnificent" and even shot down executive notes, according to James Cameron

James Cameron has revealed that Disney boss Bob Iger had some high praise for Avatar: Fire and Ash – and he even defended it against other feedback.

Fire and Ash is the upcoming third film in Cameron's epic sci-fi series, which will take us back to Pandora for a new adventure involving the Ash People.

"He's interesting. He doesn't weigh in until it's something for me to show," Cameron said on The Town podcast.

When asked if Iger wanted the runtime to be 3 hours and 15 minutes, Cameron explained: "No, his comment when he watched the film for the first time, even though it was at 3 hours, 23 minutes, not including credits at that point, so it's gotten about 20 minutes shorter, or 18 minutes shorter since then. He said, 'Yeah, I know you're going to keep chopping away at it.' He said, 'But it's magnificent. It's magnificent.' He basically said, 'I love this film.' And it was interesting, because there were other heads on the Zoom that were bringing up notes. And he said, 'Yeah, you know, I didn't have a problem with that.' And he basically shot them down on their notes. And I was like, 'Okay, we're done here.'"

The Avatar: Fire and Ash runtime clocks in at 3 hours and 15 minutes according to AMC, which includes credits. That's longer than The Way of Water, which runs for 3 hours and 12 minutes.

"I haven't read Avatar 5 in seven or eight or nine years now, I have a folk memory of it. I know [Avatar 4] a bit better. But when you work on these things, you can get confused about what you know about; what happens and when it happens," Stephen Lang, who plays Quaritch in the movies, told GamesRadar+ recently.

"On the day, as we prepare to get deeply back into Avatar 4 and 5, I'll be completely up to speed – and there's not one scene that I don't look forward to playing. I always love going to work in this, in that role. You know, I love putting on that performance capture suit, and getting down to it."

Avatar: Fire and Ash arrives this December 19. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming movies of the year for everything else that's on the way.