Ten minutes of gun violence cut from Avatar: The Way of Water

"I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action," the director shared. "I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I'm known as an action filmmaker."

Cameron is indeed known as an action filmmaker. His two most recent movies prior to Avatar: The Way of Water were Terminator: Dark Fate and Alita: Battle Angel. Some of his best known works include other Terminator films and Aliens.

Terminator: Dark Fate saw the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton to the series. The film had some extended gun battles, a staple of the Terminator franchise.

Alita: Battle Angel is a 3D animated film where the titular character is a cyborg that is on a quest to regain her lost memories. Through her adventures, she participates in Motorball, a Rollerball-like spectacle where cyborg gladiators compete. Interestingly, Cameron has plans for a sequel for Alita: Battle Angel.

Cameron's choice to cut down on the violent scenes seems to be working well, with Avatar: The Way of Water is smashing box office records. The movie only took 14 days to reach $1 billion and is expected to stay at the number one spot in the box office charts for several more weeks.

We expect the movie to hit its $2 billion target by the end of January. The future of the franchise is hinged on Avatar: The Way of Water being profitable, and that doesn't really seem to be in doubt anymore - Cameron must feel so too, as scenes from Avatar 3 and 4 have already been shot.