James Cameron Talks About Audience Feedback and Bob Iger's Advice Ahead of AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

Academy Award winning director James Cameron has made three of the four highest grossing films of all time, so he known what he’s doing behind the camera, but part of that process is good filmmaking, and another part is listening to feedback.

Cameron talked about that side of his job in the upcoming issue of Empire Magazine, where he first touched on getting early test audience reactions for his next film in the Avatar franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash:

"You've got to use the Force to know what they're talking about sometimes. But they can be incredibly articulate about what's working for them, why it's working, and what pushed them over the line. We seem to have hit exactly the right tone in terms of intensity now."

It seems fair to say that Cameron knows this world he’s built very well, and knows how to tell the stories within it. Audiences are impressed, and so is Disney CEO Bob Iger, who saw the film alongside other execs, and had some feedback for the filmmaker. Cameron recalled:

"It was actually the funniest one of these post-screening studio meetings I've ever had. Because some of the other executives had notes. And Bob would say, 'No, don't worry about that. I didn't feel that,' sweeping the notes aside. But look, it's good to get third-party triangulation. There's a respect there."

You have to hear what the main critiques are, but you also can’t please everyone, and if some are just nitpicking, you have to take stock and move on.

Avatar: Ash and Fire will pick up in the wake of Avatar: The Way of Water, with Jake Sully's (Sam Worthington) family fractured and battling a mix of grief and rage, especially Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña). Indeed, the "Fire and Ash" trailer suggests we're in for a far darker chapter, perhaps even something akin to the "Empire Strikes Back" of Cameron's stunning sci-fi epic.

And given what he's already accomplished, it's hard to imagine Cameron still has two more movies in the franchise planned after this.

"I mean, there's no reason not to," he reasoned to Empire. "I'm healthy, I'm good to go." Let's just get the next battle between the Pandoran locals and the human space invaders out of the way first. 

Avatar: Fire and Ash lands in theaters on December 19, 2025.

via: /Film