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James Cameron Delivers a Devastating Update on His Upcoming WWII Thriller

2025-12-01 16:29
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James Cameron Delivers a Devastating Update on His Upcoming WWII Thriller

James Cameron delivers a devastating update about his upcoming WW2 thriller adapting Ghosts of Hiroshima.

James Cameron Delivers a Devastating Update on His Upcoming WWII Thriller James-Cameron Image via Abaca Press/INSTARimages 4 By  Chris McPherson Published 3 minutes ago Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts. For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.  He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him. His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.  Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

James Cameron has finally cleared the air on his long-developing WWII drama Ghosts of Hiroshima, and the update is… not encouraging. Speaking on The Town with Matt Belloni, the director admitted the project isn’t just delayed — it’s nowhere near happening.

“I have 10 other projects. That one just sort of hit the headlines briefly because of the book announcement and trying to push the book to a best seller because the author is a friend of mine. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to make the film, but I’ve written the script, and it’s not slated right now, and I don’t even have a distribution partner on it. So it’s pretty much a vaporware project right now.”

It’s a surprisingly blunt assessment, especially since the filmmaker had spoken earlier this year about just how ambitious the film might be. In an interview with Discussing Film’s Andrew J. Salazar, Cameron said Ghosts of Hiroshima “might be the most challenging film” he’ll ever make — a huge claim from the director whose sets include the doomed RMS Titanic, Pandora’s alien ecosystems, and a time-traveling robot apocalypse (more than once).

What Ghosts of Hiroshima Would Have Been

Cameron acquired the rights in 2024 to Charles Pellegrino’s non-fiction book, which finally released this past August. Pellegrino isn’t new to Cameron’s world — he consulted on Avatar: The Way of Water and Titanic — and his book chronicles survivors of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks.

If the film moves forward someday, Cameron has already described the dramatic spine: the true story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a man who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, escaped, boarded a train to Nagasaki… and arrived just before the second bomb fell. (Cameron cited Yamaguchi’s story in a conversation with Jake’s Takes.) Cameron previously told Deadline that Pellegrino’s manuscript covers an enormous historical landscape, but he wants the film to be intensely focused:

“I made a decision around this. Charlie’s book explores a subject with tendrils that run in all directions and he sometimes finds the most amazing connections throughout society and throughout history. I want to keep it very focused on the day of the two bombs and the immediate aftermath. It's two bombs, multiple witnesses and survivors.”

He added that he wouldn’t soften the horror:

“This may be a movie that I make that makes the least of any movie I've ever made, because I'm not going to be sparing, I’m not going to be circumspect. I want to do for what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki what Steven Spielberg did with the Holocaust and D-Day with Saving Private Ryan. He showed it the way it happened.”

Cameron's next movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash, arrives later this month.

imgi_1_cf7he1ify4unbs25tgnatyydri2.jpeg

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Like Follow Followed Science Fiction Adventure Fantasy Release Date December 19, 2025 Runtime 195 Minutes Director James Cameron quaritch-looks-on-in-the-trailer-for-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpg 7 Images quaritch-looks-on-in-the-trailer-for-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpgQuaritch looks on in the trailer for Avatar Fire and Ashneytiri-looks-up-at-jake-in-the-trailer-for-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpgNeytiri looks up at Jake in the trailer for Avatar Fire and Ashempire-avatar-3-scoresby.jpgBrendan Cowell manning a turret on a boat as Mick Scoresby in Avatar Fire and Ashzoe-saldana-as-neytiri-snarling-with-a-bow-in-avatar_-fire-and-ash-trailer.jpgZoe Saldana as Neytiri snarling with a bow in Avatar_ Fire and Ash trailerneytiri-and-jake-walking-forward-in-the-avatar-fire-and-ash-trailer.jpgNeytiri and Jake walking forward in the Avatar Fire and Ash trailerhuman-vehicles-in-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpgHuman vehicles in Avatar: Fire and Ashspider-falling-in-avatar-fire-and-ash.jpgSpider falling in Avatar: Fire and AshClose

Cast

See All
  • instar53884470.jpg Sam Worthington Jake Sully
  • instar53766035.jpg Zoe Saldana Neytiri
  • instar52339277.jpg Sigourney Weaver Kiri
  • instar53563807.jpg Stephen Lang Colonel Miles Quaritch

Writers Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, James Cameron Producers Jon Landau, James Cameron Prequel(s) Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water Franchise(s) Avatar Genres Science Fiction, Adventure, Fantasy Powered by ScreenRant logo Expand Collapse Follow Followed Like Share Facebook X WhatsApp Threads Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit Flipboard Copy link Email Close Thread Sign in to your Collider account

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