James Cameron says his long-whispered science-fiction remake may finally start rolling, with 2026 now on the table as a realistic point to kick off development. The filmmaker didn’t hedge his words either, insisting: “We’re gonna do it.” And this time, he’s framing it as an active plan rather than a distant wish.
Sci-fi visionary James Cameron is once again reviving the long-rumored Fantastic Voyage remake that, for years, has seemed destined to remain stuck in development limbo. While the director is best known for landmark franchises like The Terminator and Avatar, he has also built an extensive track record as a producer. One of the films he has wanted to make since the 1990s is a new take on the 1966 science-fiction classic directed by Richard Fleischer. Cameron now says the project is still alive, and he is eyeing 2026 as a potential moment to properly start development.
Right now, though, Cameron’s attention appears locked onto a single priority: keeping the Avatar franchise thriving. The third entry, Avatar: Fire and Ash, was released a few days ago, and while it’s closing in on the $400 million mark, Cameron knows parts four and five won’t be easy to secure. He addressed that uncertainty in Deadline’s Behind the Lens interview series: “If we get so lucky to do that [Avatar 4 and 5]. I always say ‘if,’ because it’s not a given. We spend a lot of money, and we’ll probably make a lot of money, but will it be enough to be profitable?”
When the interview shifts to 20th Century Studios and how it has evolved since the Fox era, Cameron weighs in on Fantastic Voyage. The conversation references Planet of the Apes and Journey to the Center of the Earth, but Cameron jumps in to address the classic film and the remake he has been planning: “Fantastic Voyage. I’ve been nurturing that for a while. I hope to get that going this coming year. I’ll be producing it, and I’m working with a director right now on a new script. So, yeah, we’re gonna do it.”
Cameron seems to be referring to the Fantastic Voyage re-imagining that David S. Goyer and Guillermo del Toro have talked about in the past. Earlier this year, Goyer described how close the project once came to happening in an interview with Forbes: “Guillermo’s a good friend. We’ve worked on about five or six projects together. We were in prep on Fantastic Voyage, and it was very close. A production designer was on, and all of the above. While we were in prep for that, Guillermo said, ‘I’ve got this deal with Searchlight’ and ‘Do you have any scripts that could be made for $20 million?’ and I gave him a script called Antlers that we produced together.”
Sharing more context, Goyer said that “Fantastic Voyage got derailed with the then regime at Fox, but God, it was a good one.” The Batman Begins and Blade writer continued: “It was such a great experience working with Guillermo and James Cameron on that, and then my experience working on that led to my working on Terminator: Dark Fate with Cameron, and we got along great.”
He went on to underline how long he has wanted to see it happen: “I’ve known Guillermo forever. I hope one day we can figure out [how to get Fantastic Voyage made]. In fact, now, my friend Steve Asbell is running [20th Century Studios], so it occurs to me that I should call him up and say, ‘Hey, maybe we should try to resurrect this.’ I also have a Star Wars script I wrote with Guillermo that hasn’t been made, so there are definitely a few ones that have gotten away.”
Source: MovieWeb
