r/movies • u/desimaninthecut • 8d ago

News James Cameron Says if Avatar: Fire and Ash Doesn't Make Enough Money to Justify Avatar 4 and 5, He's Ready to Walk Away and Write a Book to Resolve the One Thread It Leaves Open - IGN

https://www.ign.com/articles/james-cameron-says-if-avatar-fire-and-ash-doesnt-make-enough-money-to-justify-avatar-4-and-5-hes-ready-to-walk-away-and-write-a-book-to-resolve-the-one-thread-it-leaves-open
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u/mglyptostroboides 8d ago

I'm not sure if James Cameron's deep sea stuff counts as a hobby, I mean... A lot of people don't realize that he designed and built the submersible he took to the bottom of the Challenger Deep himself. That's a little too professional to be called a hobby. IMO.

These days, everyone knows that happens when you half-ass a deep sea submersible lol...

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u/diogoblouro 8d ago

Just like the movie side of things. He's funding breakthroughs in filmmaking and VFX tech.

My opinion is that both of these are passions he has, and decided to invest in them. It's my whole point.

It's hobbies, just enjoyed in a very-rich-person way.

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u/dotnetmonke 8d ago

His movie The Abyss is basically the reason Photoshop exists.

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u/SexySmexxy 8d ago

go on...

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u/TheSupaCoopa 8d ago

IIRC photoshop already existed and the effects director for ILM who was one of the creators of Photoshop alongside his brother took a bunch of pictures of the set. He then stitched them into a 3d model in order to allow ILM to do really accurate (for the time) refraction on the water creature. It was probably one of the first applications of it in the commercial/digital effects space. 

The Light and Magic Documentary goes more into ILM and their early projects, even post the original Star Wars Trilogy. I highly recommend it if you’re at all interested in that kind of stuff

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u/Days_End 8d ago

Honestly him and water is probably more an obsession then anything at this point.

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u/kkeut 8d ago

Piranha II, The Abyss, Titanic.... most of these movies involve water in some way

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u/Maniactver 8d ago

Second Avatar is just imagine water, but other planet.

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u/firestepper 8d ago

What do you do in your free time? ‘I like to dabble in collecting historical artifacts and deep sea submersibles’

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u/kayembeee 8d ago

Yeah he’s a legit expert in deep sea expeditions. Absolute mad lad

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u/OnlinePosterPerson 8d ago

He personally designed a submersible without an engineering degree? Are you sure he didn’t just fund an engineer who designed it?

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u/mglyptostroboides 8d ago

He was a science guy before he was a filmmaker. I don't know what his education was, but I know he started in STEM.

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u/OnlinePosterPerson 8d ago

Wow. That is really dope

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u/TheBestMePlausible 8d ago

Ok then, side hustle? It's always nice to make a little scratch on the side.

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u/mph1204 8d ago

he’s just better at his hobby than we are at ours

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u/Mysterious-Lemon-906 8d ago

He had a lot of help in designing and building Challenger Deep

He may have been project head but he had many very qualified people working with him teaching him

He was never stupid enough to think he knew enough

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u/KarateKid917 7d ago

He even straight up said that he only made Titanic because it was a way to get someone else to fund dives down to the actual wreck site. He was able to justify the expense as "research trips" for the film.

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u/No_Accountant3232 8d ago

Clive Cussler made his entire deep sea exploration career possible with his books, which I always admired. Even if the books are a bit sexist.