It’s been nearly eight years since James Cameron’s Avatar took the global box office by storm, and while it’s become très chic for some corners of the internet to endlessly bash Avatar, I still maintain my stubborn affection for Cameron’s movie. Very few filmmakers can create action-driven science-fiction that operates at Cameron’s level; just look at how many times people have messed up Cameron’s Terminator franchise, a near-flawless formula for blockbuster movies that studios have nevertheless run directly into the ground. We may laugh at Cameron’s planned sequels, but they are both original (technically!) and creator-driven movies. Isn’t that what we claim to want from Hollywood?
It’s a debate as old as time. Or at least as old as James Cameron’s Titanic, which came out in 1997, so not that old, but still. “They both could have fit on that door!” is the rallying cry of Titanic truthers, who believe that the door (which isn’t actually a door (it’s ajar! just kidding)) that Rose (Kate Winslet) floats on while Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) freezes to death in the subzero waters of the North Atlantic was big enough to hold both of them. Mythbusters even dedicated an episode to it. But Cameron himself is still holding fast to the movie’s original ending, much like Jack’s hands after they froze.
It made perfect sense of Stranger Things to look to the original Goonies cast in Season 2, and it seems Sean Astin may have a more involved role than we thought. Star David Harbour reveals new details of the summer hit’s second year, including the current state of Hawkins, Indiana after the incident.
In a really fascinating profile published by Variety today, actor and occasional performance artist Shia LaBeouf addresses a few of the more controversial aspects of his career (his arrest, drinking problems, etc.) and discusses working with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood (Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg). But one of the most intriguing revelations from the article is that LaBeouf almost starred in Suicide Squad — until the studio (and some script changes) got in the way.
It was only yesterday we learned that Netflix breakout sensation Stranger Things would officially bring us back to Hawkins for a Stranger Things 2, and already the town is starting to expand. New casting calls reveal three significant new additions, including a new girl for the young group of friends, and a majorly mysterious avenger.
Today brings news that San Diego Comic-Con will play host to a special panel to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aliens, James Cameron’s sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic. Cameron himself will be in attendance along with Sigourney Weaver, who is still talking up Neill Blomkamp’s new Alien sequel despite reports that the project had been delayed due to Scott’s own Alien prequel plans.
Not long ago, we wondered aloud why James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ had been largely forgotten about only five years later, despite being the biggest movie of all-time. It doesn’t even seem like there is a lot of anticipation for ‘Avatar 2’, which Cameron is developing concurrently with Parts 3 & 4. Well, people will suddenly have a little more time to start getting excited for an ‘Avatar 2’, because Cameron announced today that the upcoming sequel has been pushed back a full year, to December 2017.