In the world of filmmaking, besides Steven Spielberg, no other filmmaker has had as much success as James Cameron. James Cameron is the world’s second-highest-grossing film director, with his movies grossing over $8 billion at the Box Office. However, Cameron’s success isn’t just for being the eyes behind the camera.
James Cameron is also one of Hollywood’s most successful screenwriters. He writes or co-writes all his films, making him part of each film’s creative success story. With 13 written screenplays to his credits (as of 2023), he has only solely written five of them. These are the top 5 James Cameron’s screenplays, solely written by him.
Aliens (1986)
With the success of the Ridley Scott-directed 1979 Alien film, there were talks of a sequel. Larry Wilson, a development executive at the time, came across James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) script. Cameron had co-written The Terminator with his then-girlfriend and collaborative partner, Gale Anne Hurd. Wilson was impressed with Cameron’s script and showed it to the studio’s executives. The talented Cameron prepared a 42-page film treatment for the sequel (titled Alien II) in three days. After several back-and-forths with new and existing executives, filming began in September 1985. Aliens (1986) was produced on an $18.5 million budget and grossed between $131.1–183.3 million at the Box Office. James Cameron won his nomination for Best Writing at the 1987 Saturn Awards, as well as for Best Director.
The Abyss (1989)
James Cameron followed Aliens (1986) with another science fiction film, The Abyss (1989). Much like Aliens, Cameron solely wrote and worked on the film’s screenplay. He also directed the film with his then-wife, Gale Anne Hurd (they divorced in 1989) as The Abyss producer. Although the idea of sea aliens was first introduced in 1897 in H. G. Wells‘ short story “In the Abyss,” Cameron had groomed the idea for The Abyss since he was 17. After watching a National Geographic film about deep-diving using remotely operated vehicles, Cameron (now an experienced director and screenwriter) chose to develop a script that became The Abyss. The film grossed $90 million on a $43–47 million budget. James Cameron’s screenplay was also nominated for Best Writing at the Saturn Awards.
True Lies (1994)
James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which he co-wrote with William Wisher Jr., had been a critical and commercial success. His next project was an action comedy, True Lies (1994). True Lies was based on a French comedy film, La Totale! (1991). Cameron wrote the script with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind, making it their third collaboration. True Lies became the first film made with a production budget of over $100 million. The film received mostly positive reviews and was a commercial hit. It grossed $378.9 million on a $100–120 million budget.
Titanic (1997)
Titanic (1997) was the movie that solidified James Cameron’s status as a filmmaker and screenwriter worldwide. Besides directing and writing the screenplay, Cameron co-produced the film with Jon Landau. Before writing the script for Titanic, Cameron deep-dived to see and film the actual wreck of the ship in the Atlantic Ocean 12 times. Being close to it all helped him understand the gravity and weightiness of it all. Although the shipwreck had always been told as a story, these were actual people that Cameron believed should have their story told.
Cameron spent six months researching the crew and passengers and on every documented event of the ship. He included Rose and Jack’s romance to help make the film relatable to audiences so it doesn’t come off as a documentary. With a production budget of $200 million, Titanic became the most expensive movie ever made at the time. Similarly, with an initial gross of over $1.8 billion, Titanic became the first billion-dollar film and the highest-grossing film, a position it held until 2009. Over the years, Titanic grossed $2.257 billion. Cameron was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Golden Globe Awards, Best Original Screenplay at the Satellite Awards, and Best Original Screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards.
Avatar (2009)
Following the success of Titanic (1997), James Cameron neither directed nor wrote the screenplay of a feature film for over a decade. During the break, he only co-produced the Steven Soderbergh-directed science fiction drama Solaris (2002). However, Cameron began working on the script for Avatar (2009) as far back as 1994, when he wrote an 80-page film treatment for the film. A science fiction fan, Cameron admitted his inspiration for Avatar came from all the science fiction books he had ever read. He also reportedly had a dream about bioluminescent forests and rivers.
So far, 2009 Avatar is the only film in the franchise whose screenplay Cameron wrote solely. Avatar was a critical and commercial success, becoming the first film to gross $2 billion at the Box Office. It is also the highest-grossing film of all time, with earnings of $2.923 billion at the Box Office. Although he co-wrote its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Cameron remains the franchise director. For his screenplay, James Cameron received nominations for Best Writing and Best Original Screenplay at the Saturn Awards and Writers Guild of America Awards, respectively.
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