James Cameron Throws Some Shade at 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'
James Cameron is responsible for the two most lucrative hits in box-office history — Avatar ($2.79 billion) and Titanic ($2.19 billion). Not even J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.07 billion) could quite overtake them globally. As if maintaining financial supremacy over that iconic franchise weren’t enough however, Cameron has weighed in on the seventh installment of the Star Wars saga — and his diplomatic comments hardly sound like acclaim.
In an interview that surfaced online this week, Cameron spoke on a wide range of topics, but it’s his thoughts on The Force Awakens that have made the most noise:
“Well, George Lucas is a friend of mine, and he and I were having a good conversation the other day about it. I don’t want to say too much about the film because I also have a lot of respect for J.J. Abrams, and I want to see where they’re taking it next, to see what they’re doing with it. I have to say that I felt that George’s group of six films had more innovative visual imagination, and this film was more of a retrenchment to things you had seen before and characters you had seen before, and it took a few baby steps forward with new characters. So for me the jury’s out. I want to see where they go with it.”
It’s almost impossible not to hear the mild criticism lurking between the lines of Cameron’s comments — even though his muted praise for Lucas’s efforts is largely confined to their visual ingenuity. (I guess he didn’t want to start discussing the prequel’s gripping sand-specific drama). Ultimately, Cameron appears intent on steering clear of a conversation about the pluses and minuses of the long-running series, although he does admit that he’d prefer to keep his upcoming Avatar sequels far, far away from Episode VIII and IX, saying “I don’t want to go head-to-head with Star Wars. That would be stupid. And hopefully they won’t want to go head-to-head with us.”
You can watch Cameron talk about The Force Awakens above and his entire chat below.
