Fans of James Cameron have been eager to see if the filmmaker, whose credits also include The Terminator, Aliens, and Titanic, would ever make another movie outside of the Avatar franchise. Fortunately, it looks like James Cameron is, in fact, eager to make non Avatar movies again.
The 71-year-old writer and director has been discussing the Avatar franchise with the release of Avatar: Fire and Ash. Naturally, he hopes that the sequel does well so that the series can continue. However, Cameron also notes that he’s fine if it doesn’t, noting that the movie does serve as a conclusion and that it would give him an opportunity to work on other projects.
Here’s what he shared on that front while speaking with THR on the matter:
“This can be the last one. There’s only one [unanswered question] in the story. We may find that the release of Avatar 3 proved how diminished the cinematic experience is these days, or we may find it proves the case that it’s as strong as it ever was—but only for certain types of films. It’s a coin toss right now. We won’t know until the middle of January.”
James Cameron then further emphasized how there are other movies he hopes to do, both within the Avatar brand and outside of it:
“I’ve got other stories to tell, and I’ve got other stories to tell, and I’ve got other stories to tell within Avatar. What won’t happen is, I won’t go down the rabbit hole of exclusively making only Avatar for multiple years.
“I’m going to figure out another way that involves more collaboration. I’m not saying I’m going to step away as a director, but I’m going to pull back from being as hands-on with every tiny aspect of the process.”
Cameron adds that one of these projects could be a return to the Terminator franchise. Though some fans might be disappointed, Cameron notes that Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be involved with the project. It seems as though Cameron hopes to take the property into a completely new direction, one that’s bigger and can still qualify as “science-fiction” with today’s real-world advances regarding artificial intelligence.
“Once the dust clears on Avatar in a couple of months, I’m going to really plunge into that,” he shared. “There are a lot of narrative problems to solve. The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what’s really happening to make it science fiction?”
He continued:
“I can safely say he won’t be [in it],” Cameron said, referring to Schwarzenegger. “It’s time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in [2019’s] Terminator: Dark Fate, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of Terminator and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren’t imagining.”
Of course, that’s only one project Cameron has shown interest in. Ultimately we’ll have to see how Avatar: Fire and Ash performs and whether or not Cameron will mark a return to that particular series or break free to pursue his other interests. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.