James Cameron Only Making One Type Of Movie Going Forward?
In an interview, James Cameron discusses how he wants to only make Avatar films for the rest of his career.
James Cameron has contributed many iconic films over the course of his 40 year career, including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic, and Avatar. The director has spent decades bringing Avatar and its hit sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, to life, and according to an interview with Empire Magazine, James Cameron is content to spend the rest of his career expanding on the world of Avatar.
The interview featured James Cameron answering questions from prominent actors and directors, some of whom inquired about Avatar, and some who probed the director’s past and creative process. S.S. Rajamouli, director of the 2022 Indian blockbuster RRR, commented on the immense amount of time Cameron has spent on the Avatar universe, and asked if the director ever regretted missing opportunities to tell other stories. Cameron replied optimistically, expressing hope that the world of Avatar is large and rich enough to allow for most of the stories and techniques he wants to explore.
“I will always mourn some of the stories that I don’t get to make,” Cameron continued, “But I feel a great satisfaction when other directors want to explore some of my ideas, like Kathryn Bigelow did with Strange Days, and Robert Rodriguez did when I passed him the baton on Alita: Battle Angel. I look forward to more collaborations in the future with directors I admire.”
It is a good thing James Cameron is content in the world of Avatar, because if all goes according to plan, he has plenty of time left on Pandora. Cameron has mapped a total of five Avatar films, but whether or not they see the light of day hinges largely on the success of The Way of Water. Now that the sequel has hit the $1.5 billion mark, it is safe to say the film was not a flop (though its hefty budget does offset its impressive return).
While there are no guarantees in the entertainment industry, James Cameron’s Avatar gamble seems to be paying off, and the future of his five-film saga is looking brighter with each box office report. Avatar 3 has already completed production and is expected to hit theaters in December of 2024, with the fourth film scheduled for 2026, and the fifth for 2028. Cameron has even suggested that he has ideas for sixth and seventh Avatar films, should the franchise make it to that point
The sprawling ambition for the story of the Na’vi should come as music to Avatar fans’ ears, but for those who miss the old Cameron, there may still be hope. Though James Cameron said he would be happy to finish his career making Avatar films, the director is attached to helm The Informationist, a missing person thriller based on a novel by Taylor Stevens. The project is currently listed as in development, and no cast members are yet known to be attached.
The first two Avatar films have included a monumental level of world building as James Cameron has continued to expand the map of Pandora. The Way of Water has been praised by many as a deeper, more emotional film than its 2009 predecessor, the story of which was largely regarded as treaded territory, in spite of its impressive visuals. With James Cameron’s most recent statements about finding every story he wishes to tell in the world of Avatar, the sequels will likely continue the expansion of the world and the depth of its characters in fresh, unexpected ways, ever-evolving in the fight to survive.
