While James Cameron’s obsession with the ‘Avatar’ franchise shows no signs of letting up—‘Avatar 3’ is locked for December 2025 with ‘Avatar 4’ slated for 2029—the director is set for a rare four-year break in the franchise for a much more sobering project: a Hiroshima film.
Titled “Ghosts of Hiroshima”, the long-gestating film is based on Charles Pellegrino’s book of the same name, and it marks Cameron’s first non-‘Avatar’ feature since 1997’s “Titanic.” For anyone keeping track, that’s almost three decades of Cameron’s life consumed by blue aliens and Pandora.
In a new interview with DiscussingFilm, Cameron is revealing that while he hasn’t written the script yet, he’s “fully committed” to ‘Hiroshima’ and intends to shoot it between Avatar 3 and Avatar 4.
To me, this might be the most challenging film I ever make I don’t 100% have my strategy fully in place for how I want to see it—how I want to shield people from the horror but still be honest.
This is vintage Cameron: a director known for pushing cinematic boundaries now aiming to immerse viewers in one of history’s greatest horrors. Unsurprisingly, he’s eyeing 3D for the project.
I want to show you what it was like. You’re just there. You’re a witness to history, you’re a witness to what really happened, and we can do that. I’m going to shoot it in 3D, if need be. I’m going to make it as real for you as I can. You know, I don’t know where it’s going to take me. I am actually afraid of this movie in a way.
The project stems from a deathbed promise he made to Tsutomu Yamaguchi—the only officially recognized survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The story will partially center on Yamaguchi’s real-life journey: surviving the Hiroshima bombing in 1945, traveling to Nagasaki, and enduring a second nuclear blast.
Cameron’s commitment to the Avatar universe is well-documented (he’s already mapped out Avatar 6 and 7), but the idea of him stepping away to explore something raw, grounded, and historically significant feels long overdue.
For those who came of age on ‘Terminator,’ and “Aliens,” the wait for another non-Pandora Cameron feature has felt eternal. And while ‘Avatar’ continues to push tech and rake in billions, some of us have been yearning for something human from him.
Cameron has previously stated that he hopes to begin production on ‘Hiroshima’ during his ‘Avatar’ hiatus. Whether that plan survives is a whole other story.