James Cameron has said that Endgame’s box office haul gave him hope that his Avatar sequels can be as big as the original. Have you spoken with him directly?
We haven’t. We’ve never met him or run into him socially. He was a huge influence on us growing up. We always say the script for Aliens is the template for most modern filmmaking. It spawned an era of commercial movies that owe their DNA and lineage to that script. He’s the godfather of modern commercial cinema along with Spielberg and Lucas. When someone says something like that about a movie you made, when you grew up on their films, it’s hard to process. The little kid inside of you certainly is ecstatic and validated. [Cameron is] not wrong in saying there’s hope. There’s certainly always hope. We have to look to ourselves to provide the right kind of entertainment to get people to come out of the house. It’s more competitive than it’s ever been. I think [audiences] want new and interesting concepts. They want it presented in a way that feels spectacular and worthy of walking out the door and sitting in a theater. They want a communal experience. I think Endgame was reflective of that as a communal experience that you couldn’t get in your house: the screaming and the cheering and the communal crying and the communal laughter. That’s why people go to the theater. There’s all different kinds of movies that can provide that. We have to work harder to provide that, to earn their trust and respect.