Will James Cameron continue on with “Avatar” movies, or will “Fire And Ash,” in theaters now, be the final installment he directs? The answer to that question lies in how the third film in the franchise does at the box office this winter.
Early numbers indicate a softer opening than the 2009 film and its 2022 sequel “The Way Of Water,” but remember: these movies have long, long legs. Having previews for “Fire And Ash” open up to $5 million less than “The Way Of Water” doesn’t mean disaster. If anything, it may be a slightly smaller first step before the blockbuster strides to a similar $2 billion run as its predecessors. Time will tell.
But enough about the numbers. From Cameron’s lips to our ears (or, er, eyes), the director confirmed to THR that, career-wise, he won’t work solely on “Avatar” installments from here on out. “I’ve got other stories to tell, and I’ve got other stories to tell within “Avatar,”” the director said in the outlet’s new cover story. “What won’t happen is, I won’t go down the rabbit hole of exclusively making only “Avatar” for multiple years. I’m going to figure out another way that involves more collaboration. I’m not saying I’m going to step away as a director, but I’m going to pull back from being as hands-on with every tiny aspect of the process.”
Those comments more or less echo previous ones Cameron made earlier this year, when he said he’d walk away from the franchise if “Fire And Ash” bombed theatrically. However, those claims came with a caveat: that Cameron would “absolutely not” pass off “Avatar” to another filmmaker, but instead write a book or something to wrap up remaining story threads. But then, without “Avatar,” where does Cameron go next? The filmmaker has several projects he could pivot to: the long-gestating “Ghosts Of Hiroshima“; an adaptation of Joe Abercrombie‘s dark fantasy book “The Devils“; “Terminator 7,” which Cameron confirmed he’s working on the story for; or a sequel to 2019’s “Alita: Battle Angel,” a project Cameron gave to Robert Rodriguez.
In other words, Cameron’s movie future remains in the sci-fi genre, with the exception of “Ghosts Of Hiroshima.” That sounds about right for the filmmaker, considering other recent comments he’s made in his “Fire And Ash” press tour. In a new interview with The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz, Cameron took aim at the AMPAS, deriding their refusal to consistently recognize genre films as worthy of Oscar nominations. “I also don’t think about the Academy Awards that much. I think, intentionally, I don’t think about that at this point, just because I don’t make a movie to appeal to that sensibility,” said the director. They don’t tend to honor films like “Avatar” or films that are science fiction, for example. They’re almost never properly recognized.”
There are outliers to Cameron’s argument, of course; most recently, Best Picture winners “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Shape Of Water” come to mind. But Cameron’s comments were more to level a blow against the Academy, and the DGA, for not nominating Denis Villeneuve for his directorial work on his “Dune” movies. “Denis Villeneuve, another Canadian filmmaker, made these two magnificent “Dune” films,” continued Cameron. “Apparently, these films make themselves because he wasn’t considered as a director, not even by the Director’s Guild.” That’s not the first time someone in the industry spoke in defense of Villeneuve’s snubbing; actor Josh Brolin described DV not getting an Oscar nod for 2021’s “Dune” as “f*cking dumb”, and infamously promised to quit acting if Villeneuve didn’t get nominated for “Dune: Part Two.”
But back to Cameron, whose choice words for the Academy were punctuated by this quip: “It’s like, okay, you can play the awards game or the game I like to play, which is to make movies that people actually go to. Sorry.” A director who’s made three of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time can get away with saying something like that. And if “Fire And Ash” makes it four? Then, yeah, consider Cameron even more bulletproof and able to mouth off about the state of the industry however he wants. But let’s not pretend the “Avatar” movies are anything else than shallow, populist entertainment; less blockbuster films than cinematic events forgotten almost as soon as the theater lights come up. Movies made to be Oscar contenders have their own issues, and those are myriad, but at least there’s a semblance of substance to most of them.
Still, Cameron’s success gives him the ability to mouth off, and his “Fire And Ash” press tour has supplied plenty of nuggets. But if “Fire And Ash” craters at the box office, expect Cameron to eat some of his words. Not those about Villeneuve and the “Dune” movie, though; Cameron is exactly right there, and hopefully the upcoming “Dune: Part Three” changes that narrative. As for Cameron’s narrative as an unimpeachable maker of box office behemoths? It continues if “Fire And Ash” shares the same fate as its predecessors.
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