Michael Mann Reveals His Unexpected Top Film of 2025

Among the cinematic offerings of 2025, there was no shortage of contenders for film of the year. Titles such as Weapons, Sinners, The Secret Agent, One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, and Bugonia all vied for attention. Yet, for Michael Mann, the director behind Heat, one particular release eclipsed the rest—though it’s not the obvious choice for most critics. Mann, whose credits include Thief, Collateral, and The Insider, has a reputation for strong opinions, and his selection of the three-hour-plus Avatar: Fire and Ash as the year’s highlight is nothing if not intriguing.

Arriving in cinemas just before the year’s end, the third instalment in the Avatar saga seemed to slip by with less fanfare than its predecessors. Despite a lukewarm critical response, it managed to rake in over a billion dollars worldwide. It’s now perched as the 39th highest-grossing film ever, continuing James Cameron’s sprawling tale of the Na’avi—those towering, blue-skinned beings who soar about on dragons and engage in interplanetary skirmishes. Admittedly, some of us haven’t kept up since the original’s release back in 2009.

Michael Mann’s Surprising Endorsement

Mann, however, was thoroughly taken with the film. In his words to Variety magazine:

“Jim Cameron’s third Avatar: Fire and Ash is a massive achievement. The towering originality of Jim’s visualization is a given; what makes Fire and Ash so potent is its believability.”

The plausibility of a story featuring nine-foot, tail-sporting humanoids on a distant moon is, perhaps, a matter for another discussion. Still, Mann stands by his choice, elaborating:

“No writer-director I can think of has invented as large a three-dimensional world of his own imagining as has Jim. 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.”

That’s quite the endorsement, though we’ll have to wait until at least 2031 to see the saga’s conclusion—an almost comically distant date, but apparently the scheduled release for the fifth and final chapter.

Looking Ahead: Heat 2 and Cameron’s Next Steps

For those less enamoured with the world of Pandora, there’s more immediate excitement in the pipeline. Plans for Heat 2—the sequel to what many consider Mann’s crowning achievement—are gathering pace. The novel, penned by Mann in 2022, is set for a film adaptation, with a cast that reads like a who’s who of modern cinema: Leonardo DiCaprio, Adam Driver, Christian Bale, Austin Butler, and Bradley Cooper are all attached. Mann is expected to return to the director’s chair.

Meanwhile, James Cameron has found time between his epic science fiction endeavours to direct something rather different: a concert film chronicling Billie Eilish’s most recent tour, titled Hit Me Hard and Soft. True to form, Cameron couldn’t resist adding a twist—he’s shot the entire thing in 3D, for those who fancy donning a pair of glasses at the cinema once more.