Award-Winning AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH Composer Simon Franglen's Score To Be Released

Award-winning composer and GRAMMY-winning producer Simon Franglen ("My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic) has scored James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash, which opens in theaters worldwide on December 19, 2025. Franglen continues his collaboration with Cameron from the third biggest film of all time, Avatar: The Way of Water, which earned him a 2023 World Soundtrack Award and garnered over 750 million streams. Hollywood Records will release the Avatar: Fire and Ash soundtrack featuring Franglen's score on December 5, 2025. The single "Dream As One" was released on November 14, 2025 by Columbia/Sony Records.

Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in the phenomenally successful Avatar franchise, opens exclusively in theaters on December 19, 2025. James Cameron takes audiences back to Pandora in an immersive new adventure with Marine turned Na'vi leader Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Na'vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and the Sully family. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, David Thewlis, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, Britain Dalton, Jamie Flatters, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Brendan Cowell, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans, Jr., and Kate Winslet.

For Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron wanted an epic, thematic score to reflect its thrilling action, grand spectacle, unforgettable characters who forge profound connections, and, most importantly, the story that will both move and inspire audiences around the globe. He insisted Franglen take the music into uncharted territory with new themes and textures, resulting in a lush, innovative sonic landscape.

In 2018, Franglen started writing the first cues for the onscreen music, and spent the last two years composing the expansive score. To deliver the 3-hour and 4-minute score you hear in the film, Franglen wrote over 1,900 pages of music.

What would four-fingered, 10-foot-tall Pandoran musicians would play?

For a dance on screen by the nomadic Windtraders clan, Franglen was tasked with imagining just that. So, he invented custom instruments for a different planet.

"Because this is Avatar, we have to do this properly with research and practical solutions. Jim always insists that we can't just make things up. The Windtraders are a nomadic clan, they needed instruments that reflected their culture and the materials they would use. These needed to be real instruments that they could play on screen."

"I sketched out designs for string instruments and drums to be carried on the 800 ft high ships they sail. I took them to the art department; they upgraded these and made 3D designs. Next the Props department 3D-printed real instruments from the designs. These were played on set by the performers when the scenes were being shot. Because we had 3D designs, the visual effects department could map them into the film itself using the performances. You can see the instruments in the film, and of course I used them in the score. They have a unique sound, and I wanted to capture that." says Franglen.

The Ash Clan required new themes and textures that reflected their aggressive chaos.

The main sound of the Ash is based on a Mongolian string instrument, the Morin Khuur, a horse-head viola. Franglen had spent time working with musicians in Inner Mongolia a decade earlier and had grown to love the sound of the frenzied texture these instruments could create. Once he saw the Ash, he knew he had to incorporate that feeling into the score.

The scale of the Avatar: Fire and Ash music production was as epic as the film.

More than 210 musicians and singers contributed, including a 100-piece orchestra, large choirs, small vocal ensembles from the Pacific Islands, solo vocalists and instrumentalists, extensive percussion, and custom synthesizer programming by Franglen.

Since this is a new film, Cameron needed the score to go into new territories. Almost 90% of the music is new score by Franglen, with the remainder split between his own themes from Avatar: The Way of Water, James Horner's original Avatar (2009) themes, and the new song "Dream As One" performed by Miley Cyrus, which he co-wrote with Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, and Cyrus.

About Simon Franglen

Simon Franglen is a multi-award-winning composer and record producer whose work spans some of the most acclaimed films of the recent decades.

Franglen composed the celebrated score for James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, for which he received a 2023 World Soundtrack Award. His score was praised for expanding the sonic world of Pandora with both epic scale and profound intimacy, and was a global hit with the soundtrack album surpassing 750 million global streams. Over the past two years, he has continued his collaboration with Cameron on the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, composing over three hours of music that introduces major new themes, textures, new instruments and groundbreaking electronica to the Avatar musical universe. Previous scores include multiple projects with directors such as Terrence Malick, Antoine Fuqua, and Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Franglen's journey to film composition began in the recording studio, where he built a remarkable career working with legends such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, and Quincy Jones and on landmark films such as Skyfall, Moulin Rouge, and Se7en. He started working with his mentor, composer James Horner, on Titanic and continued with Avatar (2009) for which Franglen was nominated for a Golden Globe. His production of "My Heart Will Go On" earned him a GRAMMY Award and helped make Titanic one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. A pioneer in immersive and spatial audio, Franglen's innovative work in 3D spatial environments across the world with artists such as Pink Floyd has helped expand how audiences experience music and sound. Franglen continues to bridge the worlds of popular and symphonic music, crafting scores defined by emotional depth, innovation, and a commitment to storytelling through sound.