Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve watched one of his movies. He may not always be as much of a celebrity as Steven Spielberg or George Lucas, but he’s produced some of the most popular movies in world history.
James Cameron, an American film director & producer, has, over his long filmmaking career, developed a platform on which he has created numerous hit movies. He dedicates his films to being both stunning in visuals and interesting in storyline, and the audience has loved it. Ever watched Titanic, the third highest-grossing film of all time? How about Alien, a cult classic? Terminator, with an astonishing 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes?
James Cameron’s greatest piece was made in 2009, when “Avatar” was released. Its visuals were absolutely groundbreaking for the time, and are still quite impressive. The film tells the story of former Marine Jake Sully being sent to the faraway planet of Pandora, where he is faced with the challenge of following orders or protecting the new planet, which he increasingly views as his home. The CGI, coupled with a familiar but strong storyline, led to Avatar becoming the highest grossing movie of all time. It’s amassed $2,923,706,026 since its initial release over a decade ago. Avatar’s position as the #1 highest grossing film was briefly upsetted by the pop culture phenomenon “Avengers: Endgame,” by the earlier record holder reclaimed their position thanks to a re-release in China. Sorry, MCU fans.
In mid-December 2022, James Cameron did it again: 13 years after the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” hit theaters. With even more stunning visuals, Sully’s story continues in the long-awaited sequel.
The Way of Water surpassed all expectations, and its $250 million budget was soon fulfilled as the film rose to become the highest grossing movie of the year - by far. Since then, the movie’s seen a steady climb at the top, and is now competing with Titanic - another James Cameron production, funny enough - for the 3rd position in the world’s bestselling movies. It’s in the top 10 domestically as well.
With this new film, James Cameron has produced/directed three out of the five highest grossing movies of all time, including the #1 position. And now, he’s announced plans for two more sequels and a prequel.
10 dollars says those movies are mildly successful.
Update: on February 19th, Avatar 2 passed titanic as the #3 highest-grossing movie of all time. It's also become the highest-grossing movie ever in Europe, even passing its predecessor.
Great movie!