‘Avatar’ director on his successful ‘arranged marriage’ with Disney

The Business

KCRW

Tv & Film

4.6 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Filmmaker James Cameron started pre-production of “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2014. Though sequels two and three to the 2009 “Avatar” had been greenlit by then 20th Century Fox head Jim Gianopulos, Cameron knew change was coming. In early 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired the studio and with it, Cameron’s latest project. “We sort of were led to believe that the ‘Avatar’ overall [intellectual property] was one of the jewels in the crown of what Disney was acquiring, so we expected them to be leaning forward and wanting to see what we were all about,” says Cameron. “They were excited by the potential of the new films, especially as it was planned out to be a series of films, a saga over time played out in four movies.” In the first installment of a two-part conversation with Cameron, the filmmaker shares what changes affected the production of the movie, and why what he calls an “arranged marriage” with Disney turned out better than expected. He also discusses the importance of theaters and repeat views for the film’s success, and how he views streaming services. But first, Kim Masters discusses with Matt Belloni how the “Avatar” and “Top Gun” sequels brought droves to the theaters. Will audiences go back in 2023, or will studios continue to focus on streaming?

Transcript

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0:00.0	From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.
0:05.4	With Avatar, The Way of Water cleaning up in theaters, it's clear that James Cameron knows how to make big movies for the big screen.
0:13.4	Still, he's not against doing something for a streamer, but he sees a shakeout coming.
0:18.0	It seems to me now that the average viewer has to have eight or ten different subscriptions
0:22.9	to see everything.
0:24.4	So it seems unsustainable on its face like a big Ponzi scheme to me.
0:29.4	I think there's going to have to be some consolidation.
0:32.0	In the first installment of our two-part conversation, Cameron talks about ending up in what
0:36.4	he calls an arranged marriage with
0:38.2	Disney after making the original avatar for Fox in 2009. And he has some words for the
0:44.7	avatar haters out there. But first we banter. Stick around. It's the business from KCRW.
0:51.8	I am joined by my partner in banter Matt Bellany.
0:54.9	Hello, Matt.
0:55.6	Hi there.
0:56.3	I will note that you were coming to us from Las Vegas, where you were going to the Consumer
1:00.5	Electronics Show, where people will be talking about all things, intellectual property, I guess,
1:06.1	and new toys.
1:08.1	Las Vegas.
1:09.2	Beautiful, Las Vegas.
1:09.8	Yeah, I'm doing a panel on artificial intelligence and how it will potentially change the New toys. Beautiful. Las Vegas. Beautiful. Yeah.
1:11.6	I'm doing a panel on artificial intelligence and how it will potentially change the game for actors.
1:16.6	Do you have a short summary of how it will potentially change the game for actors?
	...

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