News

Director James Cameron has purchased the rights to Charles Pellegrino‘s upcoming book “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” which will be published by Blackstone Publishing in August 2025 (the 80th anniversary of the bomb’s dropping in 1945).

Cameron will combine and adapt “Ghosts” and Pellegrino’s 2015 book “Last Train From Hiroshima” into a single film, which he will shoot when “Avatar” production allows. It will be titled “Last Train from Hiroshima.”

The film will tell the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived two atomic bombings: after living through the explosion in Hiroshima, he took a train to Nagasaki, enduring another blast there. Pellegrino was a science consultant to Cameron on both “Avatar” and “Titanic,” and Cameron has been interested in bringing this story to the big screen for over 20 years.

The project would mark Cameron’s first non-“Avatar” franchise project as a narrative feature director since 1997, when he released “Titanic.

James Cameron got his start in the film industry doing visual-effects work for low-budget sci-fi movies like “Galaxy of Terror” and “Battle Beyond the Stars,” but it didn’t take long for his wizardry to land him behind the camera. Within just a few films, Cameron put his stamp on the whole industry, crafting oft-imitated sci-fi hits on reasonable budgets before throwing huge loads of money into epic and sometimes troubled productions which, fortunately for everyone, pretty much always found an appreciative audience.

Watching Cameron’s films, from his original low-budget short to his trilogy of underwater documentaries, is a trip through his lifelong passions. You can see seeds of future blockbusters in early schlock like “Piranha II: The Spawning,” and you don’t even have to look that hard.

13. “Expedition: Bismarck” (2002)

The second film in James Cameron’s deep-sea-diving documentary trilogy is the dreariest. Cameron once again travels to the bottom of the ocean,...

Directors’ trademarks is a series of articles that examines the “signatures” that filmmakers leave behind in their work. This month, we’re looking at the trademark style and calling signs of James Cameron as director.

In college, James Cameron decided that he wanted to be a screenwriter. He switched from majoring in Physics to majoring in English, before eventually deciding to drop out and raise money to start his career. During that time, he worked many odd jobs, until he was finally inspired by Star Wars in 1977 to start his career in the film industry. In the early 1980’s he first worked as a miniature model builder at Roger Corman studios, demonstrating a talent for creating innovative special effects. Over time, he became a production designer, and special effects director. In 1981, he was a special effects director for the film Piranha II: The Spawning. Numerous production delays cost the original director his job,...

Never let it be said that James Cameron doesn’t give it everything he’s got when he undertakes a project. After making Titanic in 1997, he also expanded upon his deep sea diving expeditions for several documentaries on the subject – contributing to the development of new technology, and breaking records. When he made Avatar, he developed no fewer than four sequels to tell a broader story – and plans to shoot them consecutively from 2018 to 2023. Before he gets to that, however, he will deliver a six-part documentary series to AMC, focusing on the genre of science fiction – James Cameron’s Story Of Science Fiction, to be precise – about which he is so very passionate.

The limited series will comprise of six hour-long episodes, and each instalment will ask a single question. The show will then examine how that question has been addressed by popular culture, such as film, television, video games,...

James Cameron is, in case it has escaped your attention, the most successful filmmaker in history. The Canadian director hadn't exactly been starved for box-office smashes early in his career, but his last two films, "Titanic" and "Avatar," have hauled in nearly $5 billion between them, and are currently the number one and number two hits of all time. He's also the man behind the "Terminator" franchise, helmed one of the best-liked of the "Alien" series, has become a deep-sea explorer, and, uh, gave the world flying piranhas.

This week sees "Titanic" back on screens in post-converted 3D form, and given that we're still at least two years away from seeing the filmmaker's next work ("Avatar 2" and "Avatar 3" are currently targeted for around 2014/2015), it seemed like a good opportunity to look back on his career and see how he went from a visual effects whiz on "Escape From New York...

The PGA has released this press announcement:

Los Angeles, CA (September 22, 2010) . The Producers Guild of America (PGA), a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film, television and new media, announced today that the legendary Oscar award-winning producer, director, writer James Cameron will be honored with the 2011 Milestone Award. The award will be presented to Cameron at the 22nd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 22nd at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The Milestone Award is the Guild.s highest honor that recognizes an individual (or team) who has made historic contributions to the entertainment industry. The Producers Guild has paid tribute to such luminaries as Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, and Walt Disney, among others.

“James Cameron is an exceptionally talented producer.a true innovator with the rare combination of technical ingenuity and creative vision,...

HollywoodNews.com: The Producers Guild of America (PGA), a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film, television and new media, announced today that the legendary Oscar award-winning producer, director, writer James Cameron will be honored with the 2011 Milestone Award. The award will be presented to Cameron at the 22nd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 22nd at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The Milestone Award is the Guild’s highest honor that recognizes an individual (or team) who has made historic contributions to the entertainment industry. The Producers Guild has paid tribute to such luminaries as Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, and Walt Disney, among others.

“James Cameron is an exceptionally talented producer—a true innovator with the rare combination of technical ingenuity and creative vision,” said Paula Wagner, Chair of the 2011 Producers Guild Awards.

The Producers Guild of America has announced James Cameron will be honored with the 2011 Milestone Award at next January’s Producers Guild Awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The Milestone Award is the Guild’s highest honor that recognizes an individual (or team) who has made historic contributions to the entertainment industry. Previous recipients are Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ron Howard & Brian Grazer, and Walt Disney, among others.

With how much money Cameron has made at the worldwide box office, and how he’s also developed films about ocean exploration and conservation, it’s no surprise he’s being honored with this award. Hit the jump for the press release:

The Producers Guild Of America Honors James Cameron With The 2011 Milestone Award

Los Angeles, CA (September 22, 2010) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA), a national non-profit trade group committed to protecting the rights and credits of producers in film,...

"Avatar" director James Cameron will be given the Milestone Award by the Producers Guild next January.

It's the Guild's highest honor. Past recipients include Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and Walt Disney.

"James Cameron is an exceptionally talented producer-a true innovator with the rare combination of technical ingenuity and creative vision," said Paula Wagner, Chair of the 2011 Producers Guild Awards. "Jim has continued to change the film landscape with his ability to deliver groundbreaking masterpieces that present audiences and the industry with unrivaled beauty, originality and impact."

"As one of the most respected and admired storytellers of our time, James Cameron has inspired audiences with his creativity time and time again. We are proud to recognize his many talented contributions to the film and entertainment industry with the Guild's highest honor," said PGA Co-Presidents Presidents Hawk Koch and Mark Gordon.

Read the entire release after the jump.

Anyone who thinks there won't be a sequel to Avatar - given that it's the highest-grossing movie in history with $2.7billion in global ticket sales - must also be living on another planet.

Director James Cameron has now given a big hint about when we will hear more on a follow-up to his sci-fi epic.

The filmmaker was speaking at the Seoul Digital Forum, an annual technology convention in South Korea. He told the conference he believes 3D will replace 2D as the standard format for film, TV and online content in less than 25 years.

Cameron believes viewers will soon not only enjoy big-screen movies in 3D but all forms of entertainment - including sports and music shows - on their TVs, computers and laptops, according to an Associated Press report from the event.

He said Avatar had proved that 3D was not just a fad but a revolution similar...

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar comes out on Blu-ray and DVD today [Earth Day] and already he has been talking about Avatar 2 which this time will explore the oceans of Pandora and revealed that 20th Century Fox is planning to re-release the film in theaters again.

We created a broad canvas for the environment of film. That’s not just on Pandora, but throughout the Alpha Centauri Ab system. And we expand out across that system and incorporate more into the story – not necessarily in the second film, but more toward a third film. I’ve already announced this, so I might as well say it: Part of my focus in the second film is in creating a different environment – a different setting within Pandora. And I’m going to be focusing on the ocean on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative, but it...

Earlier this week, it was reported that book publisher Henry Holt and Company had stopped production on Charles Pellegrino's "The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back." The reason? Some of Pellegrino's sources were called into question, and subsequently the author himself. This is all significant because James Cameron had previously optioned the book for... something.

MTV's Larry Carroll ran into Cameron last night on the red carpet at the "Global Green" pre-Oscars party. And while the focus of the evening was on preserving the environment, we managed to get a question in about "Hiroshima." As you might expect, Cameron pretty much hit the buzz around Pellegrino and his book's authenticity right on the nose.

"It's only a story because I'm involved," he said. "If I wasn't involved it wouldn't be a story. Hopefully that story will go away after the Oscars." I would argue that the questioning...

CANNES -- For its seventh annual edition, MIPDOC, Europe's leading nonfiction trade fair, has moved house, shifting from the Carlton Hotel to the Noga Hilton where the now-defunct Casino Barriere underneath the Noga housed MIPDOC's screening rooms during the two-day market, which concluded Sunday. The old casino lounge made an appropriate setting for a business that has taken on a high-risk approach. As nonfiction programming moves upscale with such big-budget historical re-creations as the BBC's Pompeii: The Last Days and D-Day, such cinematic-quality efforts as the Discovery Channel's James Cameron's Expedition: Bismark and CS Associates' seven-part music documentary series The Blues, and reality formats from Pop Idol to Celebrity Boxing, networks and specialty channels are abandoning low-cost, bulk documentary programming in favor of expensive and riskier one-of-a-kind nonfiction "events." "Broadcasters are investing more and more of their own money (in big-budget nonfiction programming)," said Mark Starowicz, an executive producer at CBC Television's documentary unit. "The budgets and the stakes are going way up. You've got to stand out. Cookie-cutter stuff doesn't work. A few years ago, with the explosion of niche channels, you got a lot of bulk business, people producing 100 hours on the pyramids or S&M clubs or whatever. But nobody's buying that anymore."...

NEW YORK -- In the Discovery Channel's new underwater documentary James Cameron's Expedition: Bismarck, the Titanic director sheds new light on a massive wreck once deemed unsinkable. The vessel is a German battleship, but Bismarck also offers a fitting metaphor for the cable network itself. With the flagship of Discovery Networks sunk in a sea of cable competition, it has turned to Hollywood star power and promotional style to rise from the depths of the Nielsens. Last month, Discovery's monthly primetime household rating slipped below a 1.0 for the first time in years, dropping it from the list of top 10 basic cable networks. Its replacement is sister network TLC, which is at peak strength thanks to the hit series Trading Spaces. Discovery's attempts to put more emphasis on series with new additions like Monster Garage have yet to yield results, including an 8% drop last month in viewers 18-49 in primetime.