The motion capture VFX that Marvel Studios uses to bring Thanos and other comic book characters to life are no match for the technologies employed for films in the Avatar franchise, according to director James Cameron, who recently sat down for an interview with ComicBook.com and suggested that Wētā FX (formerly Weta Digital), the visual effects company behind Avatar, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the upcoming Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is the best in the industry.
“Obviously the big comic book films have been driving the sheer volume of the industry… the rising tide of technique raises everybody together,” Cameron said in a transcription shared by Variety. “It gives you higher quality artists, more tools and plug-ins and code [to use]. You’ve got more talented people writing code out there.”
“Our team at WETA Digital is constantly having new hires, and it’s coming out of that pool,” the director goes on to say. “So it improves everything. That said, WETA Effects, as it’s called now, is the best. Right? Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we’re doing… Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw [‘Avatar: The Way of Water’]. It’s not even close. It’s what WETA did.”
Variety pointed out in its coverage that this is not the first time that Cameron has been critical of Marvel movies, referencing an interview from October 25, 2022, in which the director suggested to the New York Times (alternate link) that Marvel and DC features are shallow.
“I also want to do the thing that other people aren’t doing,” Cameron said. “When I look at these big, spectacular films — I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC — it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college. They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.”
Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters nationwide on December 16.
A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of 2009’s Avatar, which returned to theaters this past September in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos sound, is reportedly set for release next year.
Avatar 5 is slated for release in 2028, according to Cameron’s iMDB page.
Discussion (8 replies)
Join Discussion →well if you make 1 movie every other decade you got more time to spend on technical stuff
Seems to be that he's making movies when the technical stuff is new enough to interest him.
In other words, "I convinced Disney to spend over $2B on this flick and I've really got to hype it as much as possible".
I agree. This guy needs to get over himself already.
On a more serious note, the VFX industry seems a crappy one to work in so i'm not surprised some films are lacking
https://www.inverse.com/innovation/vfx-industry-downward-spiral
I haven't clicked on the link yet but I have read some stories in recent years of crappy treatment by the big studios in regard to deadlines, particularly by Disney but they are not the only ones.
At some point, you have to learn to stand up for yourself. That applies to executive teams as well as individuals.
If you are continually rolling your company over to bend to terms that aren't sustainable, you might win this one job now but ultimately you lose in the long term.
Yeah, someone else may come in and pick it up, but if they are doing the same thing, it'll catch them too. Eventually, the overlords will get the hint that what they are asking for just isn't possible.
I can sympathize with smaller companies and startups - they can't afford to miss too many opportunities. But a business only works if two things are true - you are providing value to your customer ~and~ you are doing that in a manner that is repeatable. Taking losses on jobs, and/or grinding the labor pool or suppliers into the dirt - those aren't sustainable actions.
Chances are it will end up like in the rest of the tech world, a couple big players or even only one who can do as they please more or less and maybe a couple tiny studios who get by on some low key work.