Director James Cameron is actually pretty psyched there's a new king of the film world.
Cameron's Avatar was dethroned by Avengers: Endgame as the highest-grossing movie of all time in July after a decade at the top. But the filmmaker, who also previously held the box office record for Titanic, told Deadline on Wednesday that Endgame's stunning accomplishment actually brought him "a lot of hope."
That's not just him being a good sport; Cameron explained the movie's success put him at ease about today's movie-going environment as he prepares to release not one but four Avatar sequels.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Avengers: Endgame is demonstrable proof that people will still go to movie theaters," Cameron told Deadline. "The thing that scared me most about making Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 was that the market might have shifted so much that it simply was no longer possible to get people that excited about going and sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers to watch something. ... I'm happy to see it."
Of course, Cameron is suggesting this means Avatar 2 can knock Endgame off its perch when it thunders into theaters in two years; the director offered a "who knows" about whether his sequel can be as successful as its 2009 predecessor, but he said it's certainly "possible." Look out, Marvel: Cameron's coming back to reclaim his title once again in December 2021. Now that's an Avengers-level threat.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.