James Cameron — Avatar on December 16,2022
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, artist, and environmentalist who currently lives in New Zealand.
James Cameron is one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood. In 1990 he formed his own production company, Lightstorm Entertainment. In 1997, James Cameron wrote and directed Titanic. The movie went on to break all box office records and earned eleven Academy Awards.
In 1994 James Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for Avatar, drawing inspiration from “every single science fiction book” he had read in his childhood as well as from adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard.
Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was released in the United States on December 18 to positive reviews, with critics highly praising its ground-breaking visual effects. During its theatrical run, the film broke several box office records and became the highest-grossing film at the time, as well as in the United States and Canada, surpassing Cameron’s Titanic, which had held those records for twelve years.
Avatar remained the highest-grossing film worldwide for nearly a decade until it was overtaken by Avengers: Endgame in 2019, before a Chinese re-release saw Avatar retake the top spot in March 2021. Avatar is the second highest-grossing movie of all time when adjusted for inflation after Gone with the Wind with a total of more than $3 billion. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion and the best-selling video title of 2010 in the United States.
Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. The success of the film also led to electronics manufacturers releasing 3D televisions and caused 3D films to increase in popularity.
The film is set in the mid-22nd century when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable mineral unobtanium. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na’vi - a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora.
The film’s title refers to a genetically engineered Na’vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Following the film’s success, James Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce four sequels: Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 have completed principal filming, and are scheduled to be released on December 16, 2022, and December 20, 2024, respectively; subsequent sequels are scheduled to be released on December 18, 2026, and December 22, 2028. Several cast members are expected to return, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Sigourney Weaver.
