Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Film |
Founded | 1990 |
Founder | James Cameron Lawrence Kasanoff |
Headquarters | |
Key people | James Cameron Jon Landau |
Lightstorm Entertainment is an American independent production company founded in 1990 by filmmaker James Cameron [1] [2] and producer Lawrence Kasanoff. The majority of its films have been distributed and owned by 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios. [3] [4] It has produced several films including Terminator 2: Judgment Day , True Lies , Titanic , Alita: Battle Angel and the Avatar film series; Cameron has employed other filmmakers to produce and direct films under the Lightstorm banner.
In 1995, the company established a first look deal with 20th Century Fox. [5]
The company's logo depicts a bowman using a lightning bolt as an arrow.
Title | Release Date | Director | Writer | Distributor | Co-production companies | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Avatar 3 | December 19, 2025 | James Cameron | screenplay by: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver story by: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno based on characters created by: James Cameron | 20th Century Studios | TSG Entertainment | [18] |
Avatar 4 | December 21, 2029 | screenplay by: James Cameron Josh Friedman story by: James Cameron Josh Friedman Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno based on characters created by: James Cameron | TBA | [18] | ||
Avatar 5 | December 19, 2031 | screenplay by: James Cameron Shane Salerno story by: James Cameron Josh Friedman Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver Shane Salerno based on characters created by: James Cameron | TBA | [18] |
Title | First air date | Last air date | Creator | Network | Co-production companies | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
True Lies | March 1, 2023 | May 17, 2023 | Matt Nix | CBS | 20th Television Anthony Hemingway Productions Flying Glass of Milk Productions Wonderland Sound and Vision | [19] [20] [21] |
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era. He often uses novel technologies with a classical filmmaking style. He first gained recognition for writing and directing The Terminator (1984) and found further success with Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), as well as Avatar (2009) and its sequels. He directed, wrote, co-produced, and co-edited Titanic (1997), winning three Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. He is a recipient of various other industry accolades, and three of his films have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Titanic is a 1997 American romantic disaster film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's maiden voyage, with Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, David Warner, Suzy Amis and Bill Paxton in supporting roles.
True Lies is a 1994 American action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron, based on the 1991 French comedy film La Totale!. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry Tasker, a U.S. government agent, who struggles to balance his double life as a spy with his familial duties. Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Art Malik, and Tia Carrere star in supporting roles. True Lies was the first Lightstorm Entertainment project to be distributed under Cameron's multimillion-dollar production deal with 20th Century Fox, as well as the first major production for the visual effects company Digital Domain, which was co-founded by Cameron. It was also the first film to cost $100 million.
Terminator is an American media franchise created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd. The franchise encompasses a series of science fiction action films, comics, novels and additional media, concerning a total war between Skynet's synthetic intelligence – a self-aware military machine network – and John Connor's Resistance forces comprising the survivors of the human race. Skynet's most famous products in its genocidal goals are the various terminator models, such as the T-800, who was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the original Terminator film in 1984. By 2010, the franchise had generated $3 billion in revenue. The film franchise is considered to be of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is an American film distributor within the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. It handles theatrical and occasional digital distribution, marketing and promotion for films produced and released by the Walt Disney Studios, including Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios; the Searchlight Pictures label operates its own autonomous theatrical distribution and marketing unit.
Avatar is a 2009 epic science fiction film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Laz Alonso, and Wes Studi It is the first installment in the Avatar franchise. It is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable mineral unobtanium. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi, a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The title of the film refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Shane Salerno is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and Chief Creative Officer of The Story Factory. His writing credits include the films Avatar: The Way of Water, Armageddon, Savages,Shaft, and the TV series Hawaii Five-0.
James N. Gianopulos is an American businessman. He served as chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and most recently as chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures until his departure in September 2021.
James Cameron is a Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer who has had an extensive career in film and television. Cameron's debut was the 1978 science fiction short Xenogenesis, which he directed, wrote and produced. In his early career, he did various technical jobs such as special visual effects producer, set dresser assistant, matte artist, and photographer. His feature directorial debut was the 1982 release Piranha II: The Spawning. The next film he directed was the science fiction action thriller The Terminator (1984) which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cyborg assassin, and was Cameron's breakthrough feature. In 1986, he directed and wrote the science fiction action sequel Aliens starring Sigourney Weaver. He followed this by directing another science fiction film The Abyss (1989). In 1991, Cameron directed the sequel to The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and also executive produced the action crime film Point Break. Three years later he directed a third Schwarzenegger-starring action film True Lies (1994).
Avatar: The Way of Water is a 2022 American epic science fiction film co-produced and directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver from a story the trio wrote with Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, it is the sequel to Avatar (2009) and the second installment in the Avatar franchise. It features Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang reprising their roles from the first film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in an new role, and Kate Winslet joining the cast. It follows a blue-skinned humanoid Na'vi named Jake Sully (Worthington) as he and his family, under renewed human threat, seek refuge with the aquatic Metkayina clan of Pandora, a habitable exomoon on which they live.
Avatar 3 is an upcoming American epic science fiction film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, it is the third film in Cameron's Avatar franchise, and a sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). Cameron is producing the film with Jon Landau. Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno were involved in the writing process. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, and Filip Geljo reprise their roles from previous films, with Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis, and Oona Chaplin portraying new characters. In 2018, several titles for the Avatar sequels reportedly leaked, which included the accurate title "The Way of Water", Landau says not to expect Avatar 5, or any of the rest, to line up: "We have decided on titles, but I would not go by those other three titles that were out there. You know, if you roll the dice one in six times, you'll pick the right number."
Pandora – The World of Avatar is a themed area inspired by James Cameron's Avatar located within Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Set a generation after the events of the Avatar films, the area is based upon the fictional habitable exomoon, Pandora, and features Pandora's floating mountains, alien wildlife, and bioluminescent plants. Spanning 12 acres (4.9 ha), Pandora – The World of Avatar includes two major attractions, Avatar Flight of Passage and Na'vi River Journey, as well as retail and dining outlets.
Avatar is an American media franchise created by James Cameron, which consists of a planned series of epic science fiction films produced by Lightstorm Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Studios, as well as associated merchandise, video games and theme park attractions. Avatar is set in the mid-22nd century on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The film's central conflict is between the indigenous Na'vi led by Jake Sully and Neytiri, and humans led by Colonel Miles Quaritch from the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a megacorp which has arrived on Pandora to colonize and pillage it for its natural resources. The title of the series refers to the genetically engineered Na'vi body operated from the brain that humans pilot to interact with on Pandora.
Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Rosa Salazar stars through motion-capture animation as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson play supporting roles.
The following is a list of unproduced James Cameron projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, Canadian film director James Cameron has worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell or are officially cancelled.
Avatar 4 is an upcoming American epic science fiction film co-written, co-edited, co-produced and directed by James Cameron. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, it will be the sequel to the upcoming 2025 Avatar 3, and the fourth installment in the Avatar franchise. It will star Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña, among others from the original cast, reprising their roles. The screenplay is written by James Cameron and Josh Friedman. Cameron stated that Avatar: The Tulkun Rider is being considered as a possible title for the film.
True Lies is an American action television series created by Matt Nix, based on the 1994 film of the same name by James Cameron, itself based on the 1991 French film La Totale! by Claude Zidi, Simon Michaël, and Didier Kaminka. It premiered on March 1, 2023 and ended on May 17, 2023 on CBS. In May 2023, the series was canceled after one season.