James Cameron Confirms He Nearly Directed ‘Wicked,’ Hails ‘Wizard of Oz’ as His Favorite Film

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Before creating the world of Pandora, director James Cameron considered adapting Wicked for the big screen. Cameron is known for directing blockbuster films like Titanic and Avatar, but he’s also been involved in projects he ultimately didn’t make, including early versions of X-Men and Spider-Man. It seems Wicked is another film that almost made it to the screen under his direction.

I was so excited to hear Cameron talking about his love for musicals on The Town with Matthew Belloni! He shared that he’s a huge fan of both Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, and get this – he almost directed the Wicked movie! He said it was around 2010, right after Avatar came out, but he just couldn’t quite crack the music. When asked if he saw himself directing another musical, he admitted he wasn’t sure, but then added that The Wizard of Oz is one of his all-time favorite movies, which makes total sense!

James Cameron’s History with ‘Wicked’ & ‘Wizard of Oz’


Universal Pictures

It really doesn’t surprise me that James Cameron loves The Wizard of Oz. You can see its influence all over Avatar – from the direct nod with the “you’re not in Kansas anymore” line, to the core idea of characters finding themselves suddenly in unbelievably fantastical worlds. It makes you wonder what his take on Wicked would have been like. Aside from a couple of films like Aliens and True Lies, Cameron usually sticks to creating completely original stories or building on his own previous work.

Bringing the musical Wicked to the big screen took over fifteen years. Discussions about a movie adaptation began at Universal Pictures in 2011, but Cameron Mackintosh had been envisioning it for even longer. Several directors, including J.J. Abrams, Rob Marshall, and James Mangold, were considered before Stephen Daldry was chosen in 2016, with plans for a 2019 release. The film faced multiple delays, and Daldry eventually left the project in 2020. Jon M. Chu then took over in February 2021 and successfully completed both Wicked and Wicked: For Good.

James Cameron likely began talks with Universal Pictures about directing Wicked after the massive success of his film Avatar, and during the long period before Avatar: The Way of Water was released. He had spent almost ten years developing The Way of Water, meticulously designing the underwater world of Pandora and figuring out how to film it. If he’d taken on Wicked, the Avatar sequels would likely have been delayed even further. Interestingly, both Avatar: Fire and Ash and Wicked: For Good are now set to come out in 2025, and both are predicted to be major box office hits.

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2025-11-26 20:49