“I dreaded it making money”: the record-breaking success James Cameron wanted to avoid
Some directors have no interest in making blockbuster movies with enormous budgets, a stacked cast of stars, and incredibly technical special effects. Then there’s James Cameron, who has spent his career making movies that practically require the biggest screen you can find and several hours of your time. He asks you to get swept away in worlds full of action and drama, where tragedy and life-or-death situations are common occurrences.
His debut feature, Piranha II: The Spawning, wasn’t the greatest start to his career, but Cameron soon found his feet after releasing The Terminator. It became a cult classic, as did its sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. With Aliens, The Abyss, and True Lies, Cameron maintained his position as one of Hollywood’s most commercially successful filmmakers – something he would soon come to prove on unprecedented levels with his 1997 film Titanic.
We’ve all seen it. Some of us love it, getting emotional at the mere thought of Jack and Rose reuniting on the staircase, while others find it to be soppy, overly dramatic and far too long. Whether you’re a fan or not, you can’t deny the film’s impact on cinema, which was forever changed by its release. Made on a budget of $200 million, the movie was incredibly expensive, mainly due to its extensive special effects and large amount of extras. Cameron even took journeys down to the wreckage of the real ship to film footage and study it, immersing himself in the tragedy for several years.
The movie has grossed over $2 billion since its release and continues to be loved by many. However, for the next few years, Cameron only released documentaries, such as Ghosts of the Abyss, while working on an even more ambitious project – Avatar. The movie used groundbreaking motion capture technology and CGI and took years to develop, and as a result, it followed in Titanic’s footsteps and became a sensation.
Cameron developed a whole world and a new language for his movie, which was really quite impressive. It won various Academy Awards, and Cameron was praised for his contributions to developing Hollywood cinema into new realms, which inevitably meant a sequel would be greenlit.
Since then, Avatar: The Way of Water has been released, while Avatar: Fire and Ash and another currently untitled instalment are scheduled for 2025 and 2026, respectively. Yet, Cameron was initially hesitant to make even one sequel, according to an interview with Indie London.
He explained, “I always said while making the film I dreaded it making money because then we’d have to do it again.”
Of course, he knew from the beginning that a sequel would be on the cards if Avatar was successful, adding, “When I pitched it to Fox I told them we’re going to be spending a lot of money creating all these assets – we call them assets – these CG mountains and plants and leaves and flowers and bugs and creatures.”
“Everything you see on screen had to be created by people at work-stations over a period of years, so they have value. In terms of what the pitch was, I said, look you’re going to have to spend more money on the first one but on the second one we’ll be able to advertise that and spend more time on the story, and they bought that.”
Cameron continued, “I feel like I have to make a second one now,” before adding, “But that will only happen if we make money on the first this one. It’s still a throw of the dice at this point. I have a story worked out on for the second one and the third one, but my lips are sealed.” In 2010, the filmmaker confirmed the sequels, cementing Avatar as one of the 21st century’s biggest franchises.
