James Cameron’s movies have been some of Hollywood’s biggest successes. What are the Best Box Office Hits? Avatar became the highest grossing movie of all-time, the first time, it achieved that honor by surpassing Cameron’s own Titianic. However, while Cameron’s movies tend to make a lot of money, that’s almost by necessity, because they also tend to cost a lot of money. Cameron says he used to get defensive about the costs of his productions, but now he doesn’t because he knows he’s putting the money to good use.
Talking with GQ, James Cameron says that, if he thinks there’s a good enough reason to it, he would argue in favor of spending $1 billion on a movie. The argument is simple: he doesn’t waste any money. Whatever he’s spending it’s because he thinks it’s needed to make the movie work. Cameron explains…
That was what I hated about. It was often the first thing anyone would say. And now I’m like, if I can make a business case to spend a billion dollars on a movie, I will fucking do it. Want to find out why? Because we don’t put it all on a pile and light it on fire. It is given to the people.
The truth is that people will show up when James Cameron shows them what they need on the screen. Whether it’s the sinking of the Titanic or an entire alien world, displayed in state of the art 3D, Cameron gets a return on the investment that the studio makes. Cameron has a track record of success and walks in to studios telling them that he would like to make four. Avatar sequels, with the first two being shot simultaneously, it doesn’t appear there were significant hurdles to making that happen.
At the end of the day, the studio isn’t going to care about lending out a lot of money as long as they believe they’re going to get a lot more money back. Cameron claims that Cameron’s films are an excellent investment. It’s just another business transaction. Cameron continues…
If the studio agrees and thinks it’s a good investment, as opposed to buying an oil lease off of the north of Scotland, which somebody would think was a good investment, why not do it?
James Cameron appears to be able to balance art and business when making movies. Cameron understands the business of making movies, which means he must do the right thing for those who are paying him. However, this allows him to create the entertainment he desires and tells the stories he loves.