With James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash set to release a few months before Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, it brings to mind a time from their careers when their films Avatar and Inception hit theatres with a similar time gap, between 2009 and the subsequent year. Following the release of Inception, some compared Nolan's film and called it a film that appealed as much to the intellectual side as it did to the emotional side. According to them, Avatar did not have the same effect. CNN IBN's Rajeev Masand brought up this point in his old interview with Cameron, but the filmmaker "took exception" to it. Cameron argued that Avatar worked on more levels than one. "I think it works on a level of visual spectacle, on a level of just narrative storytelling, and on an emotional level," he stated. Cameron added that some audiences who showed receptiveness to the film's themes would also find it relatable "on a spiritual or metaphysical level" as well.
James Cameron called Avatar's story "challenging" enough for the audience to engage with it intellectually. "That you have a consciousness that exists in another body, but your real body is over here in this kind of translate state," he said as an example. He underscored that a film would work best if it engaged with the audience emotionally and intellectually.
Cameron did praise Inception subsequently in 2011 and questioned Nolan not even receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Calling it "the most astounding piece of film creation and direction of the year," he told The Hollywood Reporter, "I loved Inception, and I wish that it had gotten more."
While there have also been critical views by Cameron about Nolan's work since then, audiences are certainly looking forward to what these two visionary filmmakers are going to offer soon at the cinemas. While Avatar: Fire and Ash is hitting theatres on December 19, The Odyssey is slated for a July 17, 2026, release.
