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Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning shaper who worked intimately with manager James Cameron connected 3 of the biggest blockbusters of each time, "Titanic" and 2 "Avatar" films, has died. He was 63.
Alan Bergman, Disney Entertainment co-chairman, announced Landau's decease successful a connection Saturday. No origin of decease was given.
"Jon was a visionary whose bonzer endowment and passionateness brought immoderate of the astir unforgettable stories to beingness connected the large screen. His singular contributions to the movie manufacture person near an indelible mark, and helium volition beryllium profoundly missed. He was an iconic and palmy shaper yet an adjacent amended idiosyncratic and a existent unit of quality who inspired each astir him," Bergman said.
Landau's concern with Cameron led to 3 Oscar nominations and a champion representation triumph for 1997's "Titanic." Together the brace relationship for immoderate of the biggest blockbusters successful movie history, including "Avatar" and its sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water."
Landau's vocation began successful the 1980s arsenic a accumulation manager, and helium gradually roseate done the ranks, serving arsenic a co-producer connected "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" and "Dick Tracy."
He took connected the shaper relation connected "Titanic," Cameron's costly epic astir the infamous 1912 maritime disaster. The stake paid off: "Titanic" became the archetypal movie to transverse $1 cardinal successful planetary box-office net and went connected to triumph 11 Oscars, including champion picture.
"I can't enactment and I can't constitute and I can't bash ocular effects, truthful I conjecture that's wherefore I'm producing." Landau said portion accepting the grant with Cameron.
Their concern continued, with Landau becoming a apical enforcement astatine Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. In 2009 the brace watched arsenic "Avatar," a sci-fi epic filmed and shown successful theaters with groundbreaking 3D technology, surpassed the box-office occurrence of "Titanic." It remains the top-grossing movie of each time.
Its sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," is 3rd connected the list.
Landau has been a cardinal subordinate successful the "Avatar" franchise, which saw predominant delays of the merchandise of "The Way of Water." Landau defended the sequel's advancement and Cameron's ambitious plans to movie aggregate sequels astatine erstwhile to support the franchise going.
"A batch has changed but a batch hasn't," Landau told The Associated Press successful 2022, a fewer months up of the sequel's release. "One of the things that has not changed is: Why bash radical crook to amusement today? Just similar they did erstwhile the archetypal 'Avatar' was released, they bash it to escape, to flight the satellite successful which we live."
Landau was named an enforcement vice president of diagnostic movies astatine 20th Century Fox erstwhile helium was 29, which led him to oversee large hits including "Home Alone" and its sequel, arsenic good arsenic "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "True Lies," wherever helium archetypal started moving intimately with Cameron.
Landau was besides influential successful bringing the manga adaptation "Alita: Battle Angel" to the large surface successful 2019. Cameron supported the project, but his "Avatar" commitments kept him from directing it. Instead, Landau worked with manager Robert Rodriguez to get the movie completed.
Born successful New York connected July 23, 1960, Landau was the lad of movie producers Ely and Edie Landau. The household moved to Los Angeles successful the 1970s, and Landau went connected to postgraduate from the University of Southern California's movie school.
Ely Landau died successful 1993. Edie Landau, the Oscar-nominated shaper of films similar "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Hopscotch" and "The Deadly Game," died successful 2022.
Jon Landau is survived by his woman of astir 40 years, Julie; their sons, Jamie and Jodie; and 2 sisters and a brother.
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