LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning producer who labored intently with director James Cameron on three of the most important blockbusters of all time, “Titanic” and two “Avatar” movies, has died. He was 63.Alan Bergman, Disney Leisure co-chairman, introduced Landau’s demise in a press release Saturday. No explanation for demise was given.“Jon was a visionary whose extraordinary expertise and fervour introduced a few of the most unforgettable tales to life on the large display. His exceptional contributions to the movie business have left an indelible mark, and he can be profoundly missed. He was an iconic and profitable producer but a fair higher individual and a real drive of nature who impressed throughout him,” Bergman mentioned.Landau’s partnership with Cameron led to a few Oscar nominations and a finest image win for 1997’s “Titanic.” Collectively the pair account for a few of the greatest blockbusters in film historical past, together with “Avatar” and its sequel, “Avatar: The Manner of Water.”
Landau’s profession started within the Eighties as a manufacturing supervisor, and he progressively rose by the ranks, serving as a co-producer on “Honey I Shrunk the Youngsters” and “Dick Tracy.”
He took on the producer position on “Titanic,” Cameron’s costly epic concerning the notorious 1912 maritime catastrophe. The wager paid off: “Titanic” grew to become the primary film to cross $1 billion in international box-office earnings and went on to win 11 Oscars, together with finest image.
“I can’t act and I can’t compose and I can’t do visible results, so I assume that’s why I’m producing.” Landau mentioned whereas accepting the award with Cameron.
Cameron, proper, and Landau maintain the Oscars for finest image for “Titanic” in 1998. (AP Photograph/Reed Saxon)
Their partnership continued, with Landau changing into a prime govt at Cameron’s Lightstorm Leisure. In 2009 the pair watched as “Avatar,” a sci-fi epic filmed and proven in theaters with groundbreaking 3D expertise, surpassed the box-office success of “Titanic.” It stays the top-grossing movie of all time.
Its sequel, “Avatar: The Manner of Water,” is third on the checklist.Landau has been a key participant within the “Avatar” franchise, which noticed frequent delays of the discharge of “The Manner of Water.” Landau defended the sequel’s progress and Cameron’s bold plans to movie a number of sequels without delay to maintain the franchise going.“Quite a bit has modified however loads hasn’t,” Landau instructed The Related Press in 2022, just a few months forward of the sequel’s launch. “One of many issues that has not modified is: Why do individuals flip to leisure at present? Similar to they did when the primary ‘Avatar’ was launched, they do it to flee, to flee the world during which we dwell.”Landau was named an govt vp of characteristic films at twentieth Century Fox when he was 29, which led him to supervise main hits together with “Dwelling Alone” and its sequel, in addition to “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “True Lies,” the place he first began working intently with Cameron.
Rodriguez, actor Rosa Salazar and Landau at a press convention to advertise “Alita: Battle Angel” in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. (AP Photograph/Ahn Younger-joon)
Landau was additionally influential in bringing the manga adaptation “Alita: Battle Angel” to the large display in 2019. Cameron supported the challenge, however his “Avatar” commitments saved him from directing it. As a substitute, Landau labored with director Robert Rodriguez to get the movie accomplished.
Born in New York on July 23, 1960, Landau was the son of movie producers Ely and Edie Landau. The household moved to Los Angeles within the Nineteen Seventies, and Landau went on to graduate from the College of Southern California’s movie college.Ely Landau died in 1993. Edie Landau, the Oscar-nominated producer of movies like “Lengthy Day’s Journey Into Night time,” “Hopscotch” and “The Lethal Recreation,” died in 2022.Jon Landau is survived by his spouse of practically 40 years, Julie; their sons, Jamie and Jodie; and two sisters and a brother.