James Cameron Takes It Out, Swings It Around: Says AVATAR Sequels Will Be ‘Revolutionary’

As a longtime supporter of James Cameron, I say this with great affection: he's a pretty big peacock. 

I mean, the Corman Factory product turned Aliens into his insane Vietnam movie, creating one of the greatest analog SFX spectacles of all time. Then, he one-upped himself with The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, adding in computer effects work that both stunned and broke studio bank accounts. For Titanic, he proclaimed himself "king of the world" with his recreation of the infamous ship's sinking, then brought 3D back en vogue with Avatar, re-invigorating and re-working the tech to create a totally immersive theatrical experience.

Oh, and he broke box office records time and again while doing all of this. So yeah, it's a fairly terrible idea to ever bet against King James. He calls his shots, and then finds a way to hit home runs each time. 

All that being said, it's tough to totally take him seriously when he claims his next six (or whatever, I stopped counting) Avatar movies are going to be "revolutionary". While speaking at a Vivid event in Sydney, Australia, Cameron was back in 3D shill mode, saying: 

"They will be, to the best of my ability, the best 3D that’s possible to make. That includes collaborating with the people at Dolby Cinema, who have developed high dynamic range projection that could put 16 foot-lamberts of light on a 3D screen through the glasses, which is revolutionary. Normally, you’re looking at about three foot-lamberts. Sixteen is what you should be seeing. That’s what movies should look like. I guarantee one thing: Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 are all going to be in 3D and they will look sumptuous.”

Cameron then demonstrated how real the 3D would feel by delivering a baby on stage with his bare hands. Shit was wild, and probably illegal. He then followed this epic feat by revealing what he'd learned about AI while doing research for the Terminator reboot (or sequel, or whatever the hell it is) he's producing that'll hit theaters in 2019:

“There are a lot of researchers at the very cutting edge of artificial general A.I. research that will say, ‘We are trying to create a person.’ They mean ‘a person.’ A consciousness and identity, something with an ego, something with its own life, and goals and emotions. I say okay, ‘So, this ‘person’ that you’re creating, how will you control this person?’ ‘Oh, well it’s very easy, we just set out the goals that we want the AI to pursue. How long do you think something smarter than you will ever be, is going to want to be your slave? About forty-fifth of seconds."

Cool. I'll see you guys in my anti-robot shelter. There's only room for twelve other people, though, and Phil and Scott already called bench spots, so technically that means there's ten. Sorry. 

Avatar 2 comes out December 18th, 2020. Start doing eyeball work outs for all those lamberts. Hopefully the machines don't kill us all before then.