James Cameron has had his fair share of pioneering feats in the movie industry, and he seems to be suggesting doing it again with a radical suggestion on how he wants his movies to look in future. The Oscar winner is currently preparing to finally release his long awaited Avatar sequel, starting with Avatar 2 next December, and in a “Directors on Directors” piece for Variety, he has revealed that he would like to see his movies have two separate versions going forward, with a shorter one for cinema release and a longer cut for streaming.
The boom in streaming platforms has led to many older movies being revisited as much expanded TV series with varying results. With movies such as Alien and Blade Runner being developed from TV by Ridley Scott, Cameron would like to see his films have a similar new lease of life in future, but by way of there being two versions of new movies made rather than just one and a potential directors cut following years later.
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In the segment, Cameron speaks with Dune director Denis Villeneuve about their shared experience as two big-budget filmmakers in the industry, and the subject of streaming is broached by Villeneuve, who asks Cameron if he “is afraid” of how much streaming is evolving. Cameron, who has developed many new and innovative moviemaking practices over his career and been involved in some of the most groundbreaking movies of a generation, responded by saying he has no fear of it at all and actually thrives on things being “chaotic.” He said:
“I think what we can see is an expanded form of cinema. I want to do a movie that’s six hours long and two and a half hours long at the same time. Same movie. You can stream it for six hours, or you can go and have a more condensed, roller coaster, immersive version of that experience in a movie theater. Same movie. Just, one’s the novel, and one’s the movie. Why not? Let’s just use these platforms in ways that haven’t been done before.”
Whether Cameron will get his wish and be able to stream a longer version of his Avatar movies when they have completed their cinematic run remains to be seen, but it has its merits. Having the option of two cuts of a movie from the off would allow filmmakers to put out their exact vision on streaming platforms regardless of length, while editing down the film to a coherent but less bum-numbing runtime for its cinematic release. Avatar 2 is currently set for a December 2022 release.
