Cameron recently spoke with Esquire Middle East and revealed that he wanted to avoid excessive gunplay with Avatar: The Way of Water - tying back to previous reports about a cut space shootout. The director stated that he would not want to make Terminator in today’s world. “I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now,” Cameron said. “I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30+ years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.” It is a bold choice for Cameron to reduce the number of action scenes to drive home a point. Audiences tend to enjoy over-the-top gunfights and explosive sequences. The balancing act is evident in Jake Sully’s character opting to run away while Neytiri wants to fight. “I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action,” the director shared. “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.” Cameron is indeed known as an action filmmaker. His two most recent movies prior to Avatar: The Way of Water were Terminator: Dark Fate and Alita: Battle Angel. Some of his best known works include other Terminator films and Aliens. Terminator: Dark Fate saw the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton to the series. The film had some extended gun battles, a staple of the Terminator franchise. Alita: Battle Angel is a 3D animated film where the titular character is a cyborg that is on a quest to regain her lost memories. Through her adventures, she participates in Motorball, a Rollerball-like spectacle where cyborg gladiators compete. Interestingly, Cameron has plans for a sequel for Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron’s choice to cut down on the violent scenes seems to be working well, with Avatar: The Way of Water is smashing box office records. The movie only took 14 days to reach $1 billion and is expected to stay at the number one spot in the box office charts for several more weeks. We expect the movie to hit its $2 billion target by the end of January. The future of the franchise is hinged on Avatar: The Way of Water being profitable, and that doesn’t really seem to be in doubt anymore - Cameron must feel so too, as scenes from Avatar 3 and 4 have already been shot.
