I’m guessing the timing on this is no coincidence. James Cameron is making the rounds for his new docuseries AMC Visionaries: James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction, and just in time for Avengers: Infinity War to drop he’s out there hoping audiences start suffering from “Avenger fatigue here pretty soon.”
Yeah, you keep hoping. People have been predicting superhero fatigue for years and so far it hasn’t happened. The funny thing, even if audiences did get tired of Marvel movies it wouldn’t have anything to do with Cameron, and wouldn’t necessarily mean they’d start flocking to his movies. He adds…
“Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on guys; there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!”
The irony is that Cameron has spent the last decade working on exactly one story, his four Avatar sequels, and if there’s any audience fatigue it’s waiting for them to be completed. The original opened in 2009 and made the most of the 3D boom, becoming the highest-grossing movie ever with $3B worldwide. Cameron has directed some documentaries and produced a number of films in the time since, from the cave-diving thriller Sanctum (aka Stanktum), Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming Alita Battle Angel, and a reboot of his Terminator franchise directed by Tim Miller.
What those Avatar sequels will entail still remains a mystery, but Cameron opened up a little bit about them, name-checking a crime classic in the process…
“I’ve found myself as a father of five starting to think about what would an ‘Avatar’ story be like if it was a family drama. What if it was “The Godfather?” It’s a generational family saga.”
Oh, so it’s like Star Wars? That’s novel.
Meanwhile, Vulture caught up with Marvel prez Kevin Feige at a presser for Infinity War and told him of Cameron’s comments. Feige, as per usual, was able to find the bright side…
“Uh, he loves the movies!” Feige said, a knowing grin spreading on his face. He stood up, pumping his arm. “That’s awesome! Wow, James Cameron loves our movies! That’s exciting!”
Well played.
If you want to check out the AMC Visionaries series it debuts on April 30th and includes interviews with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, and more.
