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.
Landau’s household introduced his dying Saturday. No explanation for dying was given.
Landau’s partnership with Cameron led to a few Oscar nominations and a greatest image win for 1997′s “Titanic.” Collectively the pair account for among the greatest blockbusters in film historical past, together with “Avatar” and its sequel, “Avatar: The Manner of Water.”
Cameron, in a press release, remembered “an expensive pal, and my closest collaborator of 31 years.” “Part of myself has been torn away,” mentioned Cameron.
“His zany humor, private magnetism, nice generosity of spirit and fierce can have held the middle of our Avatar universe for nearly twenty years,” mentioned Cameron. “His legacy is not only the movies he produced, however the private instance he set — indomitable, caring, inclusive, tireless, insightful and totally distinctive.”
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 Children” 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 world box-office earnings and went on to win 11 Oscars, together with greatest 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.
Their partnership continued, with Landau turning 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 know-how, 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.
“Your knowledge and help formed so many people in methods we’ll all the time be pleased about,” Zoe Saldaña, one of many stars of the “Avatar” franchise, mentioned in an emotional tribute on Instagram. “Your legacy will proceed to encourage us and information us in our journey.”
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 formidable plans to movie a number of sequels without delay to maintain the franchise going.
“Lots has modified however lots hasn’t,” Landau informed The Related Press in 2022, a number of months forward of the sequel’s launch. “One of many issues that has not modified is: Why do individuals flip to leisure in the present day? Similar to they did when the primary ‘Avatar’ was launched, they do it to flee, to flee the world by which we reside.”
“Jon was a visionary whose extraordinary expertise and fervour introduced among the most unforgettable tales to life on the massive display screen. His exceptional contributions to the movie business have left an indelible mark, and he might be profoundly missed. He was an iconic and profitable producer but a fair higher particular person and a real pressure of nature who impressed throughout him,” Alan Bergman, Disney Leisure co-chairman, mentioned in a press release.
Landau was named an govt vp of function films at twentieth Century Fox when he was 29, which led him to supervise main hits together with “Residence Alone” and its sequel, in addition to “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “True Lies,” the place he first began working intently with Cameron.
Landau was additionally influential in bringing the manga adaptation “Alita: Battle Angel” to the massive display screen in 2019. Cameron supported the venture, however his “Avatar” commitments saved him from directing it. As an alternative, 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 Evening,” “Hopscotch” and “The Lethal Sport,” 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.
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