News

Director James Cameron has purchased the rights to Charles Pellegrino‘s upcoming book “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” which will be published by Blackstone Publishing in August 2025 (the 80th anniversary of the bomb’s dropping in 1945).

Cameron will combine and adapt “Ghosts” and Pellegrino’s 2015 book “Last Train From Hiroshima” into a single film, which he will shoot when “Avatar” production allows. It will be titled “Last Train from Hiroshima.”

The film will tell the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived two atomic bombings: after living through the explosion in Hiroshima, he took a train to Nagasaki, enduring another blast there. Pellegrino was a science consultant to Cameron on both “Avatar” and “Titanic,” and Cameron has been interested in bringing this story to the big screen for over 20 years.

The project would mark Cameron’s first non-“Avatar” franchise project as a narrative feature director since 1997, when he released “Titanic.

Pictures: Netflix

Welcome to another look back at the biggest hits of 2023. Today, we’ll look through the documentaries and docu-series that picked up the most points in the Netflix top 10s throughout the year.

This list is compiled with data from FlixPatrol, which tracks the daily top 10s in over 90 countries globally. Their data provides a daily snapshot of what’s trending in the TV and movie list by providing points to each title that features. Although we love their data, it’s neither perfect nor an exact measurement of viewership. Netflix does provide its own data on this front, but it doesn’t allow us to paint a big picture of what was watched most in 2023 as it stands.

Because documentaries feature in the movie lists and docu-series feature in the TV list, we’ll split them separately. We’ll have a look at the documentaries and docu-series to do best globally first,...

While the Netflix Top 10 film chart for the week of June 26 remained fairly consistent from the previous week, “The Witcher” Season 3 burst into the English TV chart in first place. Read on for this week’s analysis.

“The Witcher” has been one of the streamer’s most popular series, so when Season 3 – the final one with Henry Cavill – was released last week, it was no surprise it did quite well with 15.2 million views (about 73 million viewing hours divided by the 4.82 runtime for the season). It was the #1 watched show in over 75 countries, including the United States, Canada, and all of Europe and Africa, making the Top 10 in 91 countries total.

The new season of “The Witcher” generated interest in earlier seasons, with Season 1 reentering the chart with 2.2 million views (17.2 million viewing hours).

See ‘M3GAN’ kills at 2023 box office as only original movie in Top 10

“The Witcher” knocked the sixth season of...

Titanic director James Cameron's other movie on the subject has become a streaming hit on Netflix. Ghosts of the Abyss, which draws its title from another James Cameron movie, is a 2003 documentary that the director released, just six years after dramatizing the events of the 1912 Titanic disaster in his Oscar-winning romantic epic. The 3D documentary follows an expedition to the Titanic wreckage taken by Cameron, Titanic star Bill Paxton, and a team of scientists that unknowingly occurred during the events of 9/11, which is then used to draw parallels to the historical disaster.

Netflix is reporting that Ghosts of the Abyss has entered their global top 10 English-language movies this week, landing at No. 8 with 3.3 million views garnering a total of 4.9 million viewing hours. This 20-years-late boost likely comes from the addition of Titanic on Netflix on July 1, and the interest in Titanic expeditions has being piqued following the implosion of...

Following the voyage of the Titan sub that claimed five lives on June 18 when it imploded en route to Titanic’s wreckage in the North Atlantic, the sub’s developer and operator OceanGate Expeditions faced criticism from James Cameron, who contended in numerous interviews that the tragedy was preventable. He told ABC News on Thursday: “Many people in the community were concerned about this sub and even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental and what they were doing needed to be certified.”

John Bruno — a VFX Oscar winner for The Abyss who did four dives to Titanic with Cameron during the filming of the Oscar-winning 1997 film and 2003 documentary Ghosts of the Abyss — echoed Camerons’s concerns about the Titan sub’s design. He tells The Hollywood Reporter that when he read about the sub, “the worst thing for me was that the whole front end opened up.

“Titanic” director James Cameron spoke out during an ABC News interview about the tourist submersible Titan that lost contact on its way to reach the wreck of the famous passenger liner.

After submarine company OceanGate released a statement on Thursday saying that the five people who went down are believed dead, Cameron gave his thoughts on the tragedy as a longtime member of the diving community, who has made 33 trips to the Titanic himself.

“People in the community were very concerned about this sub,” Cameron said. “A number of the top players in the deep submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company, saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that it needed to be certified. I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet he steamed...

James Cameron got his start in the film industry doing visual-effects work for low-budget sci-fi movies like “Galaxy of Terror” and “Battle Beyond the Stars,” but it didn’t take long for his wizardry to land him behind the camera. Within just a few films, Cameron put his stamp on the whole industry, crafting oft-imitated sci-fi hits on reasonable budgets before throwing huge loads of money into epic and sometimes troubled productions which, fortunately for everyone, pretty much always found an appreciative audience.

Watching Cameron’s films, from his original low-budget short to his trilogy of underwater documentaries, is a trip through his lifelong passions. You can see seeds of future blockbusters in early schlock like “Piranha II: The Spawning,” and you don’t even have to look that hard.

13. “Expedition: Bismarck” (2002)

The second film in James Cameron’s deep-sea-diving documentary trilogy is the dreariest. Cameron once again travels to the bottom of the ocean,...

John Refoua, the Oscar-nominated editor who worked on Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, has died. He was 58.

Refoua died from complications from a rare bile duct cancer called cholangiocarcinoma, according to his wife, Serena Bell Refoua, who shared the news of his death in a Facebook post. He was diagnosed with cancer in early 2022.

“Despite the pain and complexities of this aggressive disease, he faced it with courage and grit,” Bell Refoua wrote. “He continued to work and edit on James Cameron’s Avatar 3 right up to his final weeks. His life’s trajectory was quite unique and anything he touched, he made better.”

An experienced and widely respected editor, Refoua was a longtime collaborator of Cameron, working with the legendary filmmaker on the Avatar franchise, the Fox sci-fi series Dark Angel and the Titanic documentary, Ghosts of the Abyss. Refoua, along with Cameron and Stephen E. Rivkin...

John Djahanshah Refoua, an Oscar-nominated film editor who worked on Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, has died. He was 58.

Refoua had been diagnosed with a rare bile cancer called cholangiocarcinoma, his wife Serena Refoua confirmed.

“Dear friends, my brilliant, sweet, creative husband John Djahanshah Refoua passed away last night May 14 surrounded by family and friends who loved him,” Serena shared in a Facebook post. “He was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare bile duct cancer, 15 months ago.”

She continued, “Despite the pain and complexities of this aggressive disease, he faced it with courage and grit. He continued to work and edit on James Cameron’s Avatar 3 right up to his final weeks. His life’s trajectory was quite unique and anything he touched, he made better. He loved music, movies, politics, traveling, vintage cars, science fiction, and his 4-year-old granddaughter Avery Sophia. We will miss his generosity and wisdom.

Why did James Cameron's Avatar take so long to make? The original Avatar movie in 2009 was a game-changing cinematic release that broke new ground for filmmaking and smashed a series of records along the way. After achieving such success, one might think that a sequel would be imminent, but Avatar: The Way of Water didn't arrive until December 2022. Production on more Avatar movies is ongoing, although talk of a follow-up began even before the original had hit theaters. After a long wait, the decade is set to be dominated by Avatar movies, especially after the second movie was another massive box office success.

However, this lengthy period of development is nothing new and still pales in comparison to the amount of time it took for James Cameron's Avatar film to get made. Despite releasing in 2009, Cameron's first Avatar treatment was written in 1994, even before the release of the director's other big screen record-breaker,...

James Cameron is aiming to be king of Blu-ray and 4K, as word has emerged from the abyss that some of the director’s most iconic movies in his canon will be getting updated home video releases sometime this year.

The Digital Bits founder and editor-in-chief Bill Hunt had the chance to talk to producer Jon Landau about upcoming Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD releases of some of James Cameron’s greatest movies: The Abyss (1989), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), and the first Avatar (2009). As Hunt rattled off these titles, Landau replied, “2023, baby!…I would bet [they] would be [released]…But I don’t know if Disney wants me saying that yet,” followed by a laugh. You can watch the video below:

Today I had the chance to ask Avatar producer Jon Landau about the physical #4K #UltraHD & #Bluray release of James Cameron's Avatar, The Abyss, True Lies & Titanic. Here's the answer, straight from the man himself!

In between working on his Avatar sequels, James Cameron has taken on another huge project: a 4-part documentary series on some of the ocean’s most awesome inhabitants.

Cameron is the executive producer of Secrets of the Whales, a National Geographic series that will premiere on the Disney+ streaming platform on Earth Day, April 22.

“It’s the kind of challenging, daunting subject that appeals to me,” Cameron explained during a SXSW Conference panel Thursday titled “Ocean Storytelling.” “It’s also so important for people to understand and for this film to illuminate how these creatures think, how they feel, what their emotion is like, what their society is like, because we won’t protect what we don’t love.”

Avatar star Sigourney Weaver narrates the docuseries, which was filmed over a three-year period in 24 aqueous locations across the globe. National Geographic Explorer and photographer Brian Skerry conceived the series, basing...

Exclusive: When Avengers: Endgame surpassed Avatar to claim the title of the highest-grossing film in history, it ended one of the most impressive reigns in the annals of screen entertainment: James Cameron, first with Titanic (1997) and then with Avatar (2009), had owned the top spot on the all-time chart for a staggering 7,817 consecutive days — just shy of 21 1/2 years.

Cameron was busy in New Zealand working on the sequels to Avatar in late July when Avengers: Endgame (Disney/Marvel Studios) finally eclipsed the original Avatar (Fox) and its $2.79 billion benchmark. Was the ultra-competitive Cameron dejected or sour when he heard the news? Far from it, he says, his first reaction was actually relief and optimism.

“It gives me a lot of hope,” Cameron told Deadline. “Avengers: Endgame is demonstrable proof that people will still go to movie theaters. The thing that scared me most about making Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 was...

Directors’ trademarks is a series of articles that examines the “signatures” that filmmakers leave behind in their work. This month, we’re looking at the trademark style and calling signs of James Cameron as director.

In college, James Cameron decided that he wanted to be a screenwriter. He switched from majoring in Physics to majoring in English, before eventually deciding to drop out and raise money to start his career. During that time, he worked many odd jobs, until he was finally inspired by Star Wars in 1977 to start his career in the film industry. In the early 1980’s he first worked as a miniature model builder at Roger Corman studios, demonstrating a talent for creating innovative special effects. Over time, he became a production designer, and special effects director. In 1981, he was a special effects director for the film Piranha II: The Spawning. Numerous production delays cost the original director his job,...

I met Bill Paxton in 1995. On a visit to the Rolling Stone offices in midtown Manhattan, he looked in awe at our cover wall, featuring iconic images of rock royalty. An intern, passing by, stopped to stare at him. "Your face looks familiar," she said.

"I've been in a couple of movies," Paxton said, good-naturedly.

The intern wasn't buying it. "Which ones?"

"Apollo 13 ... it just came out, I'm an astronaut in that one."

"Which astronaut?" the youngster prodded, skeptical to the last.

Warming to the impromptu interrogation, Paxton flashed...

Following the news of Bill Paxton’s unexpected death at 61 years old, longtime friends and co-stars are remembering the actor’s impact both on and off screen. For director James Cameron, the loss is particularly difficult.

Paxton, who was most recently starring on CBS’ TV adaptation of Training Day, died from complications related to surgery. A source tells Et that the actor had a heart condition.

More: 'Twister' Co-Star Helen Hunt, Tom Hanks and More Pay Tribute to Bill Paxton

Cameron and Paxton built their careers together, working side-by-side through the late-‘80s and most of the ‘90s after first meeting on the set of a low-budget film by director Roger Corman. “He came in to work on set, and I slapped a paint brush in his hand and pointed to a wall, saying ‘Paint that!’” Cameron recalled in an email to Vanity Fair. “We quickly recognized the creative spark in each other and became...

Bill Paxton, the effortlessly talented actor and filmmaker, has passed away at the age of 61.

The term “character actor” is often thrown around and applied to anyone who works in a variety of movies, but few had the skill of Paxton, or carried the kind of respect and admiration from fellow actors and directors, and fans, that he did. Paxton became an early favorite of James Cameron, who cast him in “The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “True Lies,” and “Titanic,” and brought him along in the documentary, “Ghosts Of The Abyss.”

The breadth of Paxton’s work cannot be underestimated, nor his ability to shine no matter the genre.

Continue reading R.I.P. Bill Paxton (1955-2017) at The Playlist.

Never let it be said that James Cameron doesn’t give it everything he’s got when he undertakes a project. After making Titanic in 1997, he also expanded upon his deep sea diving expeditions for several documentaries on the subject – contributing to the development of new technology, and breaking records. When he made Avatar, he developed no fewer than four sequels to tell a broader story – and plans to shoot them consecutively from 2018 to 2023. Before he gets to that, however, he will deliver a six-part documentary series to AMC, focusing on the genre of science fiction – James Cameron’s Story Of Science Fiction, to be precise – about which he is so very passionate.

The limited series will comprise of six hour-long episodes, and each instalment will ask a single question. The show will then examine how that question has been addressed by popular culture, such as film, television, video games,...

James Cameron is climbing aboard National Geographic Channel’s expedition documentary “Search for Atlantis,” THR reports.

Read More: David Fincher and James Cameron: How They Helped ‘Deadpool’ Get Made

The two-hour special explores the myth of the lost city and will be made in partnership with Associated Producers and Discovery Canada. “Finding the historical and archeological truth behind the Atlantis myth has always been a fascination of mine,” said Cameron in a statement on Monday, the second day of the Banff World Media Festival. “Our exploration team will investigate several new theories about where the real Atlantis was, who these mysterious people were, and what disaster wiped them from the Earth over three millennia ago.”

Shooting will take place in Sicily, Malta, Crete, Santorini and Sardinia, with underwater filming set for off the coast of Spain. The project marks the latest expedition documentary for Cameron, who previously produced 2014’s “Deepsea Challenge,” about his solo diving expeditions, and 2003’s “Ghosts of the Abyss,” about the building of the Titanic.

Read More: James Cameron Will Make Four ‘Avatar’ Sequels, He Tells CinemaCon

“Search for Atlantis” is just one of more than a dozen projects on Cameron’s plate, including four “Avatar” sequels he’s attached to direct, and Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi adventure “Fantastic Voyage,” which Cameron will produce.

Discovery Canada and National Geographic previously worked with Associated Producers on another Atlantis documentary, the 2011 TV movie “Finding Atlantis.”

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Related storiesDavid Fincher and James Cameron: How They Helped 'Deadpool' Get MadeDoug Liman on Bringing 'Bourne'-Style Action to 'I Am Rebel' Documentary SeriesJames Cameron Says He'll Shoot 'Avatar' Sequels Like A Miniseries, Doesn't Want To Open Against 'Star Wars' Films...

For this week’s spotlight piece, I wanted to take a look at one of directing’s biggest A-listers of them all. The filmmaker in question? Well, that would be James Cameron, of course. A filmmaker who also does his best to literally change the world, Cameron is pretty special. In many ways, he really is the king of the world, so it’s only appropriate that we take a look at him in this particular article series. In any event, here we go now. Cameron got his start working behind the scenes on low budget exploitation before being given a chance to direct Piranha Part Two: The Spawning. He was fired from that project, but still has a credit. If ever there was an outlier on a resume, it’s that one. From there, he set out to make a true first feature, one that turned out to be none other than The Terminator.

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

new to stream

Babel: Alejandro González Iñárritu’s masterpiece of interlocking stories of violence and human disconnection [at Netflix] Teenage: snappy documentary assembles a slew of retro footage to tell the history of the concept of the “teenager” [at Netflix]

docs you missed

Ghosts of the Abyss: James Cameron returns to his obsession with the Titanic with state-of-the-art (2003) tech to explore the wreck; heart-stopping and chills-inducing [my review] [at Netflix] Religulous: Bill Maher and director Larry Charles look at the state of religion in the modern world, and while Maher might be kind of an asshole, his conclusion is solid: religion is poison [at Netflix] Trekkies: amusingly but compassionately dissects the phenomenon of Star Trek fandom and the beneficial impact it has on everyone it touches [my review] [at Netflix]

streaming now, while it’s still in theaters

Leave to Remain: compassionate, humane, and...

Bill Paxton and James Cameron are more than just co-workers. Besides the fact they’ve worked together on The Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, Titanic and Ghosts of the Abyss, they’re actually real life friends too. Could we see Bill Paxton in Avatar sequels? So at this year’s Warner Bros. WonderCon panel, which Paxton was attending to promote Edge of […]

The post Bill Paxton Waiting By His “Batphone” For ‘Avatar’ Sequel Call appeared first on /Film.

It’s Josh’s birthday, and his wish has come true: to travel to the depths of the ocean to explore the wreck of the infamous Titanic. Ok, maybe that wasn’t exactly his birthday wish, but that is the topic of this week’s Mousterpiece Cinema: the 2003 documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, starring and directed by Oscar-winner/cinematic titan James Cameron. Josh and Gabe are joined by Sound on Sight’s very own Josh Slater-Williams to tackle this documentary, in both its theatrical hourlong version and extended DVD version. Is one better than the other? Are the scenes in the expanded version crucial enough that the hourlong version may suffer in comparison? And what does Bill Paxton peeing have to do with any of this? All these topics and more are dealt with in the new podcast, so check it out today!

iTunes

The post Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 111:...

I’ll preface this by saying: I can’t see 3D. I just can’t. It never looks right for me. It’s a hereditary thing, my sister can’t see it, my mom, my dad, none of us can see 3D. That said, it doesn’t bother me as I see it more as a fad than anything else. I see its value in some instances, but mostly for rides and haunted attractions, etc. Regardless, it never works for me, so, c’est la vie.

Ghosts of the Abyss is one of those movies that works perfectly in both regular and 3D formats. Remember James Cameron’s obsession with the Titanic? Yeah, well, after parlaying that obsession into Oscar gold, he went on to make Ghosts of the Abyss (with narration by Bill Paxton) back in 2003. The documentary entails the then-cutting edge technology used in researching the downed vessel...

By Allen Gardner

Prometheus (20th Century Fox) Ridley Scott’s quasi-prequel to his 1979 classic “Alien” has an intergalactic exploratory team (Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba) arriving on a uncharted planet, where they discover what appears to be a dormant alien spacecraft and what might be the first discovery of intelligent life outside of Earth. Of course, everything goes straight to hell before you can scream “Don’t touch that egg!” Sumptuous visuals and strong performances from the cast (not to mention a nearly-perfect first half) can’t compensate for gaping plot and logic holes that nearly sink the proceedings in the film’s protracted second half. It feels as though some very crucial footage wound up on the cutting room floor. Perhaps, as with “Alien” and “Aliens” we’ll see a “Director’s Cut” of “Prometheus” arriving on DVD within the next year. In the meantime,...

There's almost a sub-genre of cinema based on James Cameron's interest in the deep ocean. The Abyss and Titanic are the two fictional movies but Cameron has also created documentaries that serve almost as companion pieces to these pictures, namely Aliens of the Deep and Ghosts of the Abyss. The latter was an theatrically release hour-long show that came out in 2003. With the staggering billion-dollar success of 1997's Titanic, Cameron was convinced (perhaps not financially but certainly creatively) to go back and revisit the final resting place of the most infamous passenger vessel to traverse the ocean.

Ghosts of the Abyss also allowed Cameron to start to create the 3D camera technology that he would later use to create the photorealistic CG alien world of Pandora in Avatar. Perhaps it was on this experience exploring the rusting hulk of the Titanic as it lies on the ocean floor that...

Mars Needs Moms

Directed by Simon Wells

Written by Simon Wells and Wendy Wells

Starring Seth Green, Joan Cusack, Dan Fogler, Elisabeth Harnois

A fascinating trend has been cropping up in mainstream filmmaking over the last 20 years, specific to major male directors who are widely considered to be technological pioneers. From James Cameron to Steven Spielberg to Peter Jackson, a good number of cinematic titans have not only embraced new advances in filmmaking, but they’ve become obsessed with them. You could probably argue that any auteur gets that way thanks mostly to obsession, so this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Think of Cameron, who was, for a long time, utterly single-minded in his devoted relationship to the Hms Titanic, first making the massively successful 1997 epic with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Then he made IMAX movies about the Titanic, such as Ghosts of the Abyss. Finally, in 2009, he moved on,...

I know, I said Titanic was coming out last week, but I messed up. It actually hit shelves yesterday, so I am reprinting what I wrote last week below along with this week's new releases. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. In fact, I only did it because this is a rather ugly week for new releases and we needed some kind of quality on top. Titanic (Blu-ray) You can buy it on 3D Blu-ray, regular Blu-ray or the massive "king of the world" collection you see in the picture as Paramount brings James Cameron's mega-hit home in HD. I already own Titanic on DVD and would like to have a copy of the Blu-ray for myself (if only to have the entire film on one disc), but I'm just not sure I'd return to it often enough to justify the cost ($22.99) and...

The Movie Pool goes deep for the fantastic Ghosts of the Abyss 3D Blu-ray!

The Set-up

This 3D IMAX documentary documents James Cameron's 2001 expedition to the wreckage of Titanic. Narrated and hosted by Bill Paxton.

Directed by: James Cameron

The Delivery

Ghosts of the Abyss is the perfect companion piece to Cameron's Oscar-winning classic Titanic. In some ways, the documentary surpasses the original film, especially for those more interested in the true story behind the tragedy than the Leo and Kate drama. While Ghosts has seen a previous DVD release, this Blu-ray release offers the chance to experience the film the way it always should be: in high definition, and in the original 3D presentation. You might not have an IMAX-sized screen, but the incredible images shown in this film are still able to be appreciated at home.

The documentary, orginally filmed for 3D IMAX, follows director James Cameron...

This week: Kristen Stewart is the fairest one of all in "Snow White and the Huntsman," an action-packed update of the fairy tale featuring Charlize Theron vamping it up as the evil queen and Chris Hemsworth as the titular Huntsman.

Also new this week is a gaggle of actors in the pregnancy farce "What to Expect When You're Expecting," a 3-D Blu-ray edition of "Titanic" and a 3-D Blu-ray presentation of James Cameron's "Titanic" companion piece "Ghosts of the Abyss."

'Snow White and the Huntsman'

Box Office: $155 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 48% Rotten

Storyline: The classic fairy tale becomes an action-adventure epic with the evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) dispatching the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track down the fair princess Snow White (Kristen Stewart) so she can consume the young woman's heart and remain forever young.

Extras! Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain the theatrical and slightly longer extended edition of the movie.

Blu-ray Release Date: Sept. 11, 2012

Price: Blu-ray 3D Combo $44.99, 3D Digital $25 (original version), High-Definition Digital $15.50 (extended version)

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

James Cameron returns to the Titanic in the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss.

Originally released in theaters in 2003, the 59-minute film follows Cameron and actor Bill Paxton (TV’s Big Love) back down to the sunken ship where nearly 1,500 people died 100 years ago. As portrayed in Cameron’s fictional Titanic movie, the director explores the ship inside and out in Ghosts of the Abyss.

And the G-rated movie is in 3D.

The Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD Combo includes the original theatrical version of the film, which screened in Imax theatres, and an extended version that runs for 90 minutes.

The discs also include one special feature, the featurette “Reflections From the Deep,” which was included on the DVD released in 2004.

Buy or Rent Ghosts of the Abyss

Blu-ray 3D...

Great news for "Avatar" fans, but not for those hoping to see director James Cameron's take on romantic comedies. The Oscar-winning King of the World told the New York Times that he's only in "the 'Avatar' business" now.

"I’m making 'Avatar 2,' 'Avatar 3,' maybe 'Avatar 4,'" Cameron revealed during an interview about the Chinese film industry. "I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them. I’m not interested in taking scripts."

While Cameron admitted that the all-"Avatar," all-the-time career arc might seem a "bit restricted," he says the films allow him to say "everything" he needs to say about "the state of the world." He'll also continue to produce documentaries.

While the comments might seem surprising, looking at Cameron's resume tells you they aren't. The director has released just two feature films since 1997 ("Titanic" and...

James Cameron is, in case it has escaped your attention, the most successful filmmaker in history. The Canadian director hadn't exactly been starved for box-office smashes early in his career, but his last two films, "Titanic" and "Avatar," have hauled in nearly $5 billion between them, and are currently the number one and number two hits of all time. He's also the man behind the "Terminator" franchise, helmed one of the best-liked of the "Alien" series, has become a deep-sea explorer, and, uh, gave the world flying piranhas.

This week sees "Titanic" back on screens in post-converted 3D form, and given that we're still at least two years away from seeing the filmmaker's next work ("Avatar 2" and "Avatar 3" are currently targeted for around 2014/2015), it seemed like a good opportunity to look back on his career and see how he went from a visual effects whiz on "Escape From New York...

It seems like these days the possibilities are endless in how film fans can enjoy their favorites at home, from renting through Netflix to downloading online via Amazon. But perhaps the most rewarding format – well, for this old-fashioned guy, at least – is to purchase the movie on Blu-ray. While many major studios – including Disney – have generally decreased the amount of bonus features and other special content offered on home video, this company consistently delivers an overall strong value to their Blu-ray releases. In this edition of the Mouse House, I’ll as share some thoughts on yet-to-be-released Blu-ray offerings.

Coming Soon (Announced)

Recently Disney announced over 30 titles from their library – some of them classics, others surprisingly forgettable – to be released on Blu-ray for the first time this year. Many also hold the title of “anniversary” editions, celebrating 10, 15, 20 years or more since their original debuts.

On the Disney side, get ready...

Hard as it is to believe, there are some moments when films don’t matter above all else. You want a perfect example? Simply look at James Cameron‘s recent expedition to the Mariana Trench — a.k.a. the world’s deepest point — and then get reminded that a documentary is being constructed in the meantime. What bears a greater importance?

But the journey came to an end this past weekend and, thanks to this, we can get back to Cameron‘s little side project. He gave some big updates when speaking to The AP (via /Film), wherein our newfound intrepid explorer revealed that his developing project, Deepsea Challenge, could not only find itself on TV screens by the end of 2012, but also work its way into theaters as a 3D release some point after.

Content-wise, Challenge will present what’s summarized as “the whole expedition”; /Film takes that as...

The Titanic director had to develop a special camera to withstand the 11km descent into the Pacific Ocean

Film director James Cameron is planning to release a 3D film of his pioneering Marianas Trench dive in the Pacific Ocean, it was announced last night.

Shortly after completing the 11km descent into Challenger Deep, the lowest known point on the Earth's surface, Cameron travelled to London to attend the premiere of the 3D version of his 1997 blockbuster Titanic. After the event, he told reporters that a 3D documentary of the dive, currently titled Deepsea Challenge, is being readied for a prospective cinema release later this year.

"We're shooting the whole expedition as a 3D film," Cameron said, explaining that the development of a new lightweight 3D camera, able to withstand the massive pressures at extreme depth, was crucial. "We spent a fair bit of the development budget of the sub figuring...

Latest Additions Include Star-Studded Appearances, Noted Film Historians,

An Opening-Night Poolside Screening of High Society (1956)

And a Vanity Fair Showcase of Architecture in Film

Complete Schedule for 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival

Now Available at http://www.tcm.com/festival

With just over two weeks left before opening day, the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand its already-packed slate with new events and live appearances:

On opening night of the festival, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be the site of a poolside screening of the lavish Cole Porter musical High Society (1956), starring Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Actresses Maud Adams and Eunice Gayson will attend a 50th Anniversary screening of the James Bond classic Dr. No (1962) and participate in a conversation about being “Bond Girls.” Filmmaker Mel Brooks will be on hand to introduce his brilliant parody Young Frankenstein (1974). Filmmaker John Carpenter will introduce his favorite film, the...

Los Angeles — James Cameron will be one of the stars of his next big-screen adventure, a chronicle of the expedition on which he has made record-setting ocean dives.

Cameron said he plans a TV special for National Geographic and a 3-D theatrical release on the Deepsea Challenger missions, which included his seven-mile descent to the ocean's deepest point in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific. It was the deepest solo dive ever, surpassing the five-mile descent he made a few weeks earlier.

The film could be ready late this year or early next year, depending on how much additional shooting he and his colleagues need to do, Cameron said in a telephone interview Tuesday night, after the premiere of a 3-D version of his 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," which sails into theaters next week.

"We're shooting the whole expedition as a 3-D film," Cameron said from London, where he had rushed...

James Cameron fans issued a collective sigh of disappointment when it was learned that the Avatar sequels wouldn’t hit for nearly half a decade, but there’s at least one thing to satiate this thirst during that interim. A press release from ComingSoon (via FirstShowing) informs us that Cameron will, through a partnership with National Geographic, return to Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep territory for Deepsea Challenge, a 3D documentary chronicling the director’s journey to the depths of the Mariana Trench — or, Earth’s deepest point.

Seven miles below the Ocean, Cameron will spend six hours exploring the area, “[collecting] samples for research in marine biology, microbiology, astrobiology, marine geology and geophysics,” findings which will hopefully “expand our knowledge and understanding of these largely unknown parts of the planet.”

Unfortunately, National Geographic’s involvement means that Deepsea Challenge will be a television production, and that...

Everybody knows about Titanic, James Cameron's most iconic water-related film that's getting a 3D re-release from Paramount next month. In between directing Titanic and Avatar, the award-winning filmmaker (who is also a pioneer in underwater camera technology) journeyed to the real Titanic in a 3D IMAX documentary called Ghosts of the Abyss and ventured to the sea floor again two years later in Aliens of the Deep. Now he's set to return to the oceans with a new 3D documentary called Deepsea Challenge, in which he partners with National Geographic to explore the world's deepest point - the Mariana Trench. Cameron and his team have built a submersible that will allow them the opportunity to explore the trench for six hours nearly seven miles below the surface, the first extensive scientific exploration by a manned vehicle to the trench's lowest point. Cameron says: “The deep trenches are the last...

It's no secret that James Cameron is looking to take the Avatar sequels to a whole new level by taking us to an underwater world of glory. The last we heard, producer Jon Landau said we are about four years away from seeing a new Avatar film. Why? you ask, because of technology. Once again, Cameron needs to create new advanced 3D tech that will be used for the CG and performance capture and will also have a higher frame rate. That, and of course Cameron needs a specially built submarine for research. Wait, what?

I was under the impression that Cameron took ocean bottom vacations every weekend. The news comes from Sigourney Weever who recently stated that her character in the first film will be back regardless of the fact that she died. She did an interview with Bad Taste, and here's how google translated what she said,

I...

Sadly after just unveiling that he was to be Managing Director of James Cameron's newly established Australian based office, Cameron Pace - which specialises in 3D technologies - it was reported that Andrew Wight, and cinematographer Mike deGruy, died in a helicopter crash on Saturday in Nowra.   A long time friend and collaborator of Cameron, the 51-year-old Wight has worked with the famed director on a number of films including the underwater documentaries Ghosts Of The Abyss and Aliens Of The Deep which utilised and refined groundbreaking technology.

Australian filmmaker Andrew Wight was killed over the weekend in a tragic helicopter crash. He was 52.

Best known for producing and co-writing last year.s 3D feature film Sanctum, Wight and American cinematographer Mike deGruy, who also died in the crash,.were flying around Nsw.s south coast when the chopper crashed.

A Nsw police media report said emergency services were called to the scene at about 3.55pm on Saturday at an airstrip in Jaspers Brush, near Nowra. Nsw Police and other emergency services attended and found the helicopter . a Robinson R-44 . well alight.

The pair were working together on a new National Geographic project when the accident happened.

National Geographic Society president Tim Kelly paid tribute to the pair, saying both Andrew and Mike were part of the society.s extended family.

.Our hearts, prayers, and thoughts go out to their loved ones. They accomplished so much, but were taken too early,...

A 51-year-old Australian film/TV writer-producer and a 60-year-old American cinematographer died in a helicopter crash shortly after takeoff on the New South Wales south coast today. Oz news reports describe Andrew Wight as James Cameron’s ‘right-hand man’ in Melbourne and was piloting the craft with Santa Barbara-based Mike deGruy aboard. Wight was writer-producer of the most successful Australian movie of 2011, the 3D film Sanctum executive produced by Cameron, as well as general manager of Cameron’s first 3D production company outside the U.S., the Melbourne-based Cameron Pace. DeGruy specialized in underwater cinematography and had won multiple BAFTA and Emmy awards for his camera artistry. Wight was a diver/explorer whose Sanctum screenplay took in $100M worldwide at the box office and was based on his own near-death experience in an underwater cave. The pair were believed scouting locations for an upcoming project together said to be a documentary about Papua,...

Cameron (left) and Wight

Sanctum co-creator Andrew Wight has been killed in a helicopter accident near Nowra in New South Wales, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Wight was the producer of the James Cameron-backed Sanctum, which was Australia’s first live 3D feature. He also produced a string of TV documentaries as well as James Cameron’s Titanic doco Ghosts of the Abyss.

A few days ago, Wight opened an office in Melbourne for Cameron Pace Group. It was the first international office for Cameron’s 3D company. In the announcement Wight spoke of his pride at bringing the office to Australia.

Also killed in the helicopter crash was ocean cinematographer Mike deGruy.

In 2010, deGruy gave a talk to Ted in which he described his filming experiences in Australia:...

Obviously if you have a documentary nerd like myself at an event celebrating technological progress, like last night’s Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards, and James Cameron just happens to be present to accept a major honor, I’m going to want to talk to him about how important innovation has been in the history of nonfiction cinema. And that’s just what I attempted when it was my turn to speak to the famed director of such works as Aliens of the Deep, Ghosts of the Abyss and Exhibition Bismarck. Immediately Cameron seemed excited, as if he is never asked about this side of his career. While I’m not sure what he meant when he then claimed he started out in documentary (maybe I understood him wrong), he was kind enough to indulge my remarks about advances...

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DreamWorks' furry friend leads the pack in its UK opening weekend, but dance movie sequel is out of step with the public

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Twelve months ago box office was down in the dumps, with major studios giving June a wide berth thanks to World Cup football. This weekend last year, the "big" new releases were Letters to Juliet, Brooklyn's Finest and Greenberg. Sex and the City 2 topped the chart in its third week of release with a weak £1.49m.

Fast forward to 2011, and it's a different story. Four films all managed grosses above £1.5m at the weekend, and overall the market is an impressive 149% up on the same frame from 2010. Leading the way is Kung Fu Panda 2, with £6.19m, including previews of £3.12m. DreamWorks Animation will be reasonably content with the result, as this compares with a debut of £6.07m, including £2.96m in previews, for the original Kung Fu Panda three summers ago.

Australian producers Bill Leimbach and Mandaley Perkins will attend ScreenSingapore this week in support of their new $28million project Singapore Sunset in 3D.

About the Japanese bombing of Singapore and its lead up between December 1941 and February 1942, including the bombing of Britain’s battleship Hms Prince of Wales and battle cruiser Hms Repulse, the film will bring together a multinational cast with production in both Singapore and Australia.

Of their attendance at ScreenSingapore, Leimbach, producer of Beneath Hill 60, said, “We hope to put the spotlight on the project for the first time – a sort of ‘coming out. It’s a project that many have heard we are putting together, in the financial sector and the film sector and now we have all our tools ready: promo video, website, script, budget and the casting and director’s search is well underway. It’s a project ready to start, and this...

Have distributors given in? Rob Marshall-directed fourth in the franchise had blanket UK screenings, even at arthouse cinemas

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Four years after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End left British cinemagoers a little less than satisfied and a good deal confused, the question remained: just how big an appetite would there be for a fourth helping of Captain Jack Sparrow? The answer: a healthy one. On Stranger Tides debuted with an impressive £11.63m, including £3.07m in Wednesday and Thursday previews. That's the biggest opening of 2011 by a considerable margin, beating Paul (£5.52m), Thor (£5.45m) and Fast & Furious 5 (£5.33m).

Thanks to multiple screen occupancy at many sites, the new Pirates flick dominates the market to an incredible degree, with the weekend's number two title, Fast & Furious 5, grossing just 5% of Tides' tally. The Rob Marshall-directed sequel's dominance can be seen most evidently in the top 100 engagements chart, which...

In the wake of Japan's 9.0 earthquake, underwater maven James Cameron may have to wait a while before he executes his planned 6.5 mile submersible dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench off the coast of Japan for the Avatar sequel, reports Slate (via Coming Attractions). Aftershocks are the issue. Cameron had hoped to check out deep water marine life forms as inspiration for Avatar 2, as well as film down there with 3-D cameras which are under construction in Australia. But this is unlikely to slow down production on the film. And the explorer has already seen more deep ocean life than most humans on the planet (Ghosts of the Abyss).