Director James Cameron recently opened up about what he calls an “arranged marriage” with Disney. The ‘Avatar’ director has been intimidated in the past, no one expected ‘Titanic’ to be a hit and it ended up becoming the highest grossing of all time (you’re welcome Mr. Cameron. As a seventh grader full of… .whatever 7th grade girls are full of…I saw it in theaters 8 times). The film held that title for over a decade. Then Avatar came along and broke the record for ‘Titanic’ in 2009. ‘Avatar’, of course, is another James Cameron masterpiece. He holds onto that title to this day, but hopes (with Disney’s help) to topple that achievement and surpass it with “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Credit: Disney
Cameron made ‘Avatar’ for Fox in 2009. Before the sequel was filmed, Fox had been bought by Disney, putting the director squarely in Mouse’s hands. How did you feel about it? Positive… for the most part.
“We were led to believe that ‘Avatar’ in general was one of the crown jewels of what Disney was acquiring, so we hoped they would lean in and want to see what it was about,” says Cameron. “They were excited about the potential of the new movies, especially since it was planned to be a series of movies, a saga over time that would play out in four movies.”
Credit: Wrapped
Cameron was excited to work with Disney. In a recent interview, he said, “They knew exactly what they were buying on paper, but they didn’t really know us as a production company, and they didn’t really have the really detailed ins and outs of how an ‘Avatar’ movie is made.” He brought Disney executives to the set and was transparent with them about everything that was going on, and they developed a good working relationship.
Bob Iger then left the company, and the director was left subject to the creative direction (or lack thereof) of Bob Chapek. “Of course, we were always curious about what the new emphasis would be and if we would get caught up in the vortex of Disney+ and talking about shortening the windows and all that kind of stuff,” he said, referring to the extremely short length Disney has allowed movies. released exclusively in theaters before being sent to Disney+. This, in Cameron’s eyes, would have been disastrous for the film because, due to budget overruns, the film needs repeat theatrical views to be a success.
Credit: Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Fortunately, when ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ debuted, Iger was back on top. “I don’t want to exaggerate, but [Iger and I] We’re always on the same page, so we’re definitely very happy with the way things are working out right now,” he says. “For an arranged marriage, I’d say it’s gone about as well as you could ask for.”
The movie is currently breaking records, but it’s not where it needs to be. The movie has currently grossed $1.5 billion worldwide, which is no small change, but considering the fact that it was budgeted at $2 billion, it still has a long way to go. You can now see ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ in theaters.