Jon Landau — the Oscar-winning film producer behind Titanic and the Avatar franchise — has died. Variety reports that Landau passed away Friday (June 5) from cancer. He was 63.
Landau was a close collaborator of director James Cameron, first partnering with the Canadian on 1994 action comedy True Lies. After leaving his post as executive vice president of feature film production at 20th Century Fox, Landau joined Cameron to produce 1997 disaster film Titanic.
Following its release, the Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet-led production became the highest-grossing film of all time, nabbing the honour of the first ever to reach $1 billion in gross revenues in the process. In 2012, it would become the second film to reach $2 billion in gross revenues.
Titanic won Landau honours including a Golden Globe Award, Academy Award, MTV Movie Award and Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award, and he and Cameron would continue their collaborative streak in the decade that followed, beginning with 2009's Avatar.
Following its release, the science-fiction blockbuster would eclipse Titanic to become the new highest-grossing film of all time, while its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water would reach similar heights. At present, Titanic, Avatar and The Way of Water stand as three of the four highest-grossing films of all time.
As chief operating officer of Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment, Landau was involved in the production of Avatar 3, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 prior to his death. The next film in the series is expected to arrive in December 2025.
Landau's other producing credits include 1987's Campus Man, 2002's Solaris and 2019's Alita: Battle Angel — the last of which was based on the graphic novel series Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro.
Landau reflected of his Hollywood career in a 2022 interview, "I could never just sit at a desk and sign off on anything. Not just as a producer, but in life. I want to participate, I want to have a voice, I want to have an influence. I want to be able to inspire people to go beyond what they think their own capabilities are, for them to feel pride in what we're doing. I think that's a very big thing. I never want to be that guy just at a desk anywhere in life."