James Cameron, Zoe Saldaña and Sam Worthington's Metric for an Avatar Movie's Success: If It Makes Them Cry (Exclusive) James Cameron Says Avatar 3 Is 'Right on Track': 'We Can Watch Parts of ...

Brolin emphasized that he turned down the Avatar franchise, not Cameron himself. Avatar was a smash hit when it premiered in 2009, but it was delayed so long that the idea of a sequel became memetic.