Closeup of Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) in Avatar: Fire & Ash
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Abigail Stevens
Published 26 minutes ago
Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.
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Celebrated director James Cameron further comments on the state of the modern theater industry. The Oscar-winning writer-director is known for his sci-fi, adventure, and historical epics of massive scale, including The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Aliens, The Abyss, Titanic, Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of Water.
And many of his films were huge theatrical events in their time, with 2009's Avatar standing as the highest-grossing movie of all time. However, things have been different at the box office in recent years, largely because of the aftereffects of the pandemic, with movies of genuine quality struggling to make a profit, something Cameron feels strongly about.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan for Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron elaborated on his current feelings about the modern box office and what this means for his work. "I do [bet against James Cameron]," he says. With the third Avatar movie slated to release theatrically on December 19, he admits that he's "agnostic" on what turnout it will see.
Check out Cameron's full comments below:
I mean, the theatrical industry is very depressed right now. We're coming off of a terrible year. Although Zootopia is a nice little bump at the end of the year, it's been a bad year and it's been a bad last few years since COVID and since streaming took a massive chomp out of the butt of the theatrical business. And maybe this film still works, maybe it doesn't. I'm agnostic on that right now. But hopefully people will show up because the theatrical experience is the only way that you can have that waking dream time.
Wicked: For Good also just released theatrically and broke 2024's Wicked's records, while 2025 saw some underdog box office success stories like Sinners and Weapons. But the turnout just isn't the same as it was 10 years ago. Cameron, while stressing the theatrical experience, talks about how people tend to select only a few special movies to see in cinemas these days.
"And people, they want the immediacy, they want the access of streaming," says Cameron, "and they save the theatrical experience for a few films that they want to completely submerge into." In terms of time and budget, it makes sense that this is what most movie watchers would do, though it is hurting the theatrical industry. Check out Cameron's additional comments:
Because the second you have a remote in your hand and you composite, you just broke the spell. And people, they want the immediacy, they want the access of streaming. Some people realize that they're breaking the spell and they save the theatrical experience for a few films that they want to completely submerge into. That's how I do it. I'm not going to go see everything in a movie theater. I'll make my decisions. Hopefully Avatar is still enough of a blue chip that people know they're going to go on a journey.
Cameron also recently decried Netflix's theatrical model, saying that if the streamer wants its films to be considered for awards, it should be required to show them in more theaters for a longer time than its typical two-week limited release. Avatar: Fire and Ash is said to be the end of a saga, but additional Avatar sequels are planned. However, they may hinge on Fire and Ash's box office.
Sam Worthington in the midst of battle as Jake Sully in Avatar Fire and Ash
James Cameron seems to acknowledge that streaming has permanently changed entertainment, but is still calling for some kind of change, suggesting that the industry needs to adjust if it wants to keep the theatrical experience alive. Avatar: Fire and Ash may help prove, along with a select few other recent releases, that there is still something to seeing movies on the big screen.
Headshot of James Cameron
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Avatar, Titanic, The Terminal
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6 feet 2 inches
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