History AndYouThoughtItWouldFail / JamesCameron

->''It’s a Hollywood axiom right up there with “Nobody knows anything”: Never underestimate James Cameron.''

If there is anything that one could call conventional wisdom in modern Hollywood, it's that betting on a Creator/JamesCameron film losing money is a great way to lose your shirt. From his early days in The80s working on scrappy, low-budget movies to his present-day status as one of the most widely acclaimed filmmakers in the industry, most of the films he's worked on were predicted to be duds that would sink him and whatever studio was foolish enough to fund him, only to squash all expectations and turn out to be some of the biggest juggernauts of UsefulNotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood.

If there is anything that one could call conventional wisdom in modern Hollywood, it's that betting on a Creator/JamesCameron film losing money is a great way to lose your shirt. From his early days in TheEighties working on scrappy, low-budget movies to his present-day status as one of the most widely acclaimed filmmakers in the industry, most of the films he's worked on were predicted to be duds that would sink him and whatever studio was foolish enough to fund him, only to squash all expectations and turn out to be some of the biggest juggernauts of UsefulNotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood.

If there is anything that one could conventional wisdom in modern Hollywood, it's that betting on a Creator/JamesCameron film losing money is a great way to lose your shirt. From his early days in TheEighties working on scrappy, low-budget movies to his present-day status as one of the most widely acclaimed filmmakers in the industry, most of the films he's worked on were predicted to be duds that would sink him and whatever studio was foolish enough to fund him, only to squash all expectations and turn out to be some of the biggest juggernauts of UsefulNotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood.

* Many people genuinely did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having allegedly left [[ObscurePopularity "no cultural impact"]] beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (which Cameron had publicly criticized) took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create that big of a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide and one month to reach two billion.

* Many people genuinely did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having allegedly left [[ObscurePopularity "no cultural impact"]] beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (which Cameron had publicly criticized) took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide and one month to reach two billion.

* 2019's ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is an example by proxy. Cameron wanted to adapt ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' for years, though he wound up only writing and producing due to both his deep sea diving endeavours and his work on the ''Avatar'' sequels, with Creator/RobertRodriguez directing. Prior to release, it was considered another one of those expensive and disappointing pet projects, not helped by the bad reputation of Hollywood adaptations of anime/manga and the UnintentionalUncannyValley complaints about the title character's BigAnimeEyes. While [[CriticalDissonance critics were lukewarm]], it got an excellent reception from audiences who deemed it the first time Hollywood made a manga adaptation well, and while it underperformed domestically, the $400 million it earned worldwide defied pessimistic expectations. Cameron, Creator/RobertRodriguez and producer Jon Landau are not-so-secretely working behind the scenes to have a sequel happen.

* 2019's ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is an example by proxy. Cameron wanted to adapt ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' for years, though he wound up only writing and producing due to his work on the ''Avatar'' sequels, with Creator/RobertRodriguez directing. Prior to release, it was considered another one of those expensive and disappointing pet projects, not helped by the bad reputation of Hollywood adaptations of anime/manga and the UnintentionalUncannyValley complaints about the title character's BigAnimeEyes. While [[CriticalDissonance critics were lukewarm]], it got a better reception from audiences who deemed it the first time Hollywood made a manga adaptation well, and while it underperformed domestically, the $400 million it earned worldwide was a good and slightly profitable sum.
* Many people did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having allegedly left [[ObscurePopularity "no cultural impact"]] beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (which Cameron had publicly criticized) took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide and one month to reach two billion.

-->'''Cameron:''' "I was a little concerned that I had stretched the tether too far, in our fast-paced, modern world, with ''Avatar 2'' coming in 12 years later. Right until we dropped the teaser trailer, and [[HellYesMoment we got 148 million views in 24 hours]]."

-->'''Kassar:''' "The movie that was going to bankrupt Creator/{{Carolco|Pictures}}. The most expensive independent movie of all time. Everyone from Creator/LarryKing to Creator/{{CNN}}; everyone was destroying the whole thing. I was on the boat in Cannes listening to all the nonsense. Then, of course, the movie opens, and like they say, every success has many fathers. Everyone suddenly became like they knew it was going to be a big hit. They forgot all the bad and terrible things they were saying about Carolco. There were so many fluids, moving elements and it was so expensive for those days, but I went for it, and it paid off."

* 1984's ''Film/TheTerminator'' had everything working against it. Cameron, a neophyte director whose previous directing work on [[Film/PiranhaPartTwoTheSpawning a low-budget horror sequel]] led to him getting locked out of the editing room, had a great idea for a script about a killer robot from the future, but was advised by his agent not to do it (Cameron fired him). Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, who started a hot streak with ''Film/{{Conan the Barbarian|1982}}'' and was in the middle of shooting [[Film/ConanTheDestroyer its sequel]], thought the film was going to be terrible (which he would cop to saying in later years), and was overheard on the set of ''Destroyer'' saying the project was "a shit movie". It was a TroubledProduction followed by distributor Creator/OrionPictures all but crippling the film, with them taking advice from the actors' agents ''not'' to screen it for critics (it had one press screening) and slashing its marketing budget, with only a few defenders at the studio and within the production team championing it. Yet, ''The Terminator'' was a smash-hit at release, winning #1 at the box office two weeks in a row during its 1984 launch window, grossing more than $78 million at the box-office against a $6.4 million budget, and spawning [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} a juggernaut franchise]] that has continued in various forms for several decades afterwards and spawned five sequels (in various timelines), comics, games and more.

* Many people did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having allegedly left "no cultural impact" beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (which Cameron had publicly criticized) took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide and one month to reach two billion.

If there is anything that one could conventional wisdom in modern Hollywood, it's that betting on a Creator/JamesCameron film losing money is a great way to lose your shirt. From his early days in TheEighties working on scrappy, low-budget movies to his present-day status as one of the most widely acclaimed filmmakers in the industry, most of the films he's worked on were predicted to be duds that would sink him and whatever studio was foolish enough to fund him, only to squash all expectations and turn out to be some of the biggest blockbusters of the age.

* Speaking of the ''Avatar'' sequels, many people did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having allegedly left "no cultural impact" beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s like the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse (which Cameron had publicly criticized) took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide and one month to reach two billion.

* Speaking of the ''Avatar'' sequels, many people did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having left no cultural impact beyond the groundbreaking special effects despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide, and it looks set to far surpass that milestone by the end of its run.

* 2019's ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' is an example by proxy. Cameron wanted to adapt ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' for years, though he wound up only writing and producing due to his work on the ''Avatar'' sequels, with Creator/RobertRodriguez directing. Prior to release, it was considered another one of those expensive and disappointing pet projects, not helped by the bad reputation of Hollywood adaptations of anime/manga and the UncannyValley complaints about the title character's BigAnimeEyes. While [[CriticalDissonance critics were lukewarm]], it got a better reception from audiences who deemed it the first time Hollywood made a manga adaptation well, and while it underperformed domestically, the $400 million it earned worldwide was a good and slightly profitable sum.

* Speaking of the ''Avatar'' sequels, many people did not expect 2022's ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'' to succeed. It was the third film of Cameron's to break budgetary records[[note]]Estimates place the film's budget anywhere from $350-460 million; the prior record of $379 million was held by ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides''[[/note]], such that Cameron estimated that it would have to be the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time just to break even. Cameron's last feature film was thirteen years prior, and that film, ''Avatar'', had become a pop culture punchline in the years since, remembered as having left no impact on cinema or culture despite its enormous box-office intake. ''The Way of Water'', it was assumed, was entering a film industry that had left it and films like it behind as multimedia {{Modular Franchise}}s took over blockbuster filmmaking, it being a sequel to a film that stood alone and, until then, did not create a franchise to keep it in the public eye. Cameron himself [[https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/movies/james-cameron-avatar.html worried]] that he may have waited too long to make it. It took less than two weeks for it to make over a billion dollars worldwide, and it looks set to far surpass that milestone by the end of its run.

-->'''Kassar:''' "The movie that was going to bankrupt Carolco. The most expensive independent movie of all time. Everyone from Larry King to CNN; everyone was destroying the whole thing. I was on the boat in Cannes listening to all the nonsense. Then, of course, the movie opens, and like they say, every success has many fathers. Everyone suddenly became like they knew it was going to be a big hit. They forgot all the bad and terrible things they were saying about Carolco. There were so many fluids, moving elements and it was so expensive for those days, but I went for it, and it paid off."