Who is James Cameron, the director of ‘Titanic’?

James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ is hitting theaters this weekend for its big re-release since its original debut in 1997. The film, which depicts a romance between two unlikely passengers on the famous ship’s maiden passage from England to the United States, wealthy Rose, played by Kate Winslet, and nomad Jack from the third class deck, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Canadian-born James Cameron moved to the United States at the age of 17, to major in Physics at California State University, where he switched gear to studying English before finally dropping out of school to pursue a career as a screenwriter.

Cameron went on to work behind-the-scenes on the 1980 film ‘Battle Beyond the Stars’ and 1981′s ‘Piranha II: The Spawning’.

What came next really set the pace for Cameron’s career — he wrote and directed ‘The Terminator’ in 1984, which starred the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger. What started as a low-budget indie film blew up at the box office, and now it is one of the most famous movies of all time.

Cameron’s rise to success

As Cameron’s success skyrocketed after the release of ‘Terminator’, Cameron kept up with the momentum by making three more blockbuster hits, all with the science-fiction action theme — but with an increasingly greater budget.

Just two years after his first film, Cameron directed ‘Aliens’ in 1986, ‘The Abyss’ was released in 1989, and then the much anticipated ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ in 1991.

Lightstorm Entertainment

Riding on the wave of enthusiasm for his films, Cameron decided it was time to establish his own production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, where he immediately began working on ‘Titanic’, which he wrote and directed in 1997.

‘Titanic’ broke box office records and scooped up 11 Academy Awards, becoming the highest grossing movie of all time with 2.195 billion USD.

The ‘Avatar’ era

‘Titanic’ was the highest grossing film of all time until Cameron made ‘Avatar’ 12 years later, which was released in 2009 and grossed 2.923 billion USD.

The film pioneered 3D cinema technology, and took over the record-holding spot as highest grossing film ever. It was also the biggest-budget film ever made, costing more than two billion dollars to make.

The second in the franchise, ‘Avatar: Way of Water’, was released in 2022 and raked in $2.024 billion at the box office.

Cameron has said in an interview that with the groundbreaking 3D and under-water shooting technology, they spent unheard of amounts of money to produce the ‘Avatar’ sequel and were relying on a huge box office splash to make back the money he put in.

“[We] needed to earn $1.5 billion to break even,” the director said.

Cameron intends to make a total of five ‘Avatar’ films, with the next one expected to be released in December 2024.