James Cameron warns against Netflix–Warner Bros deal, says there's ‘something sacred about the movie-going experience’

Three-time Oscar winner James Cameron has voiced fresh concerns about the future of theatrical cinema amid growing industry chatter around a potential Netflix–Warner Bros tie-up, warning that any move which sidelines the big-screen experience would face resistance from filmmakers like him.

James Cameron speaks about the Netfflix-Warner Bros merger

Speaking to Deadline Awards Editor Antonia Blyth, the ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ director addressed reports that Warner Bros has accepted a bid from Netflix — while noting that nothing is final, particularly with Paramount launching a hostile takeover attempt of the 102-year-old studio.

For Cameron, the issue goes beyond corporate consolidation and straight to the heart of how films are meant to be experienced.

“Look, it’s no secret that Netflix, they’ve kind of, in a funny way, they’ve had to make an accommodation with a few filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and so on to keep a foot in theatrical, but I think it’s no secret that they want to replace theatrical,” Cameron said.

“OK, I mean, maybe that happens, I don’t know, maybe I’m a dinosaur,” he continued, “I happen to think that there’s something sacred about the movie-going experience and just the ease and broad access of streaming is not the complete answer. Maybe the universe adjusts around those two principles, but you can’t just steamroll theatrical out of existence and I’m going to stay opposed to that.”

His remarks arrive at a sensitive moment for Hollywood exhibitors, who have already endured shrinking theatrical windows in the post-pandemic era.

Earlier this week, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos struck a more conciliatory tone, publicly reaffirming his support for theatrical releases — particularly for Warner Bros films designed for multiplex play — and promising to respect downstream windows. However, industry sources continue to suggest that Netflix favours a 17-day exclusive theatrical window, far shorter than the 45-day period many exhibitors consider essential for sustainability.

For Cameron, that distinction is existential.

“Now, maybe Netflix modifies its game once it has the responsibility for the survival of theatrical as well. If they prevail in this, they’ll become a major and we’re down to half the number of majors that existed when I came into the business,” he said. “This is going to sort itself out, but I’m pretty four-square on the side of let’s keep that theatrical experience alive. Clearly, I make movies for that, primarily.”

While Cameron acknowledges that strong storytelling can translate across platforms, he is adamant that scale still matters.

“They play well through the waterfall because a good story is a good story. You put it on the smallest screen you want, it’s still a good story. You look at it through a fricking pinhole, it’s still a good story, right?”

He pointed to his own box-office record as evidence of what theatrical exclusivity enables. ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ (2022) went on to become the third highest-grossing film of all time with $2.3 billion worldwide, ultimately generating an estimated $531 million in profit after ancillary revenues — numbers he argues would be impossible under an ultra-short theatrical window.

Turning to his latest release, Cameron underscored that ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ — clocking in at three hours and 15 minutes, the longest film in the franchise — is engineered for immersion.

“But the way it’s meant to be enjoyed is in a theater in 3D, in an unbroken stream of consciousness, three hours long, because that’s when the emotion will wash over you and through you in a way that it never will on a smaller screen in an interrupted flow.”

“The second you’ve got a remote and you composite, you just lost half of the impact,” Cameron continued, “Boom! Mic drop. I’ve never said it that concisely.”

Avatar: Fire and Ash opens in cinemas next Friday and is tracking for a $100 million-plus domestic opening weekend — a result Cameron would likely see as another emphatic argument for why the theatrical experience should not be written off just yet.