James Cameron’s next movie project,Last Train from Hiroshima, already sounds a lot more tantalizing than the threeAvatarsequels he’s supposed to make first. Cameron is confirmed to be directing at least three moreAvatarsequels, includingthe upcomingAvatar: Fire and Ash(and he’s teased thatAvatar 5could be followed byAvatar 6and7if all goes well), but he’s already lining up his next directorial project for when he’s finally done with theAvatarsaga. This will be Cameron’s first non-Avatarmovie since he madeTitanicin 1997, so it’s been a long time coming.
Most of Cameron’s movies have been high-concept, action-packed sci-fi epics likeAliens,The Terminator, and theAvatarfilms, but his first post-Avatarmovie will be more likeTitanic: a historical drama based on a real-life tragedy.Cameron’s next movie,Last Train from Hiroshima, will dramatize the U.S. government’s atomic bombings of Japan in World War II.Cameron said that it’s a subject he’s wanted to make a movie about for years, and that he’s been “wrestling with how to do it.” This new project already sounds more exciting than the litany of upcomingAvatarsequels.

James Cameron’s Last Train From Hiroshima Sounds Incredible – What It’s About
Last Train From Hiroshima Will Tell The Most Incredible Eyewitness Account From The Atomic Bombings Of Japan
Based on Charles Pellegrino’s 2015 book of the same name and his upcoming follow-up book,Ghosts of Hiroshima,Last Train from Hiroshimawill tell the most incredible eyewitness account of the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan.The film will chronicle the unbelievable true story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, boarded a train to Nagasaki, and then survived the subsequent atomic bombing there, too. Yamaguchi is the only person to be officially recognized by the government of Japan as having survived both explosions.
The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Backwas originally published on July 09, 2025.
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Cameron said that he met Yamaguchi in the hospital a few days before he died, and he “handed the baton of his personal story” to Cameron to turn it into a film.Last Train from Hiroshimasounds like the perfect companion piece to the last major Hollywood movie about the atomic bombings of Japan, Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimer. WhereasOppenheimershowed the dropping of the atomic bombs from the perspective of the physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project,Last Train from Hiroshimawill show the Japanese perspective.
James Cameron Making A Non-Avatar Sequel Is More Exciting
The Avatar Movies Are Great, But Are Five Movies Really Necessary?
The amazing true story behindLast Train from Hiroshimamakes it a particularly thrilling prospect, but just the fact that Cameron is working on a new movie outside theAvatarfranchise is exciting.Throughout the 15 years thattheAvatarsequelshave been in the works, it’s seemed unlikely that Cameron would ever get away from Pandorato make another non-Avatarmovie. After two very longAvatarmovies, the chance to see Cameron make a new film separate from that franchise is more exciting than seeing him go back to that well once again.
Avatar 3 Is The Real Test Of James Cameron’s Sequel Plan, And It Will Define Avatar 4 & 5
Despite the landmark success of Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, Avatar 3 presents some risks for Cameron and his future plans for the franchise.
This isn’t to take away anything from the first twoAvatarmovies. Both the original andThe Way of Waterare visually stunning, transporting audiences to unimaginable alien worlds while using the power of mythmaking to convey poignant messages about environmentalism. But returning to that world three more times feels less exciting than Cameron taking a stab at something completely new, likeLast Train from Hiroshima.Avataris great, but it feels somewhat unnecessary to make five – maybe even seven – movies in the franchise.

Will James Cameron’s Last Train From Hiroshima Actually Happen?
Last Train From Hiroshima Could Be At Least Seven Years Away
WhileLast Train from Hiroshimais a promising prospect forCameron’s future career, don’t expect it to happen any time soon. Cameron isn’t making the movie straight away; he won’t get around to making it until he gets a break in the relentlessAvatarproduction schedule.Avatarmovies take a really long time to make. Since the films take place in an entirely CG world and Cameron is one of the few Hollywood producers to give their VFX artists enough time to do their work, the post-production process takes a lot longer than usual.
…it could be at least seven years before James Cameron starts work onLast Train from Hiroshima, and it could be another two or three years after that before the movie is finished.

Last Train from Hiroshimamight have to wait untilAvatar 5is finally released.Avatar 5isn’t scheduled to be released until July 17, 2025, and that’s without accounting for any possible delays between now and then. That means it could be at least seven years beforeJames Cameronstarts work onLast Train from Hiroshima, and it could be another two or three years after that before the movie is finished. A lot can happen in a decade, so, sadly, it’s possible this movie will never see the light of day.
James Cameron
Discover the latest news and filmography for James Cameron, known for Avatar and Titanic.