Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning producer and longtime collaborator of the director James Cameron who helped deliver to life three of the highest-grossing movies of all time, “Titanic” and the 2 “Avatar” films, has died. He was 63.
Mr. Landau died on Friday in Los Angeles, in accordance with a press release from his household that was offered by Disney. It didn’t give a explanation for demise.
Mr. Landau and Mr. Cameron’s decades-long collaboration made field workplace historical past. The primary movie they made collectively, “Titanic,” grew to become the primary film to gross greater than $1 billion globally after its 1997 launch. Its whole earnings report, $1.84 billion, was damaged by the following movie they made collectively, the science-fiction epic “Avatar” (2009).
“Titanic” was nominated for 14 Oscars and received 11, together with for finest image, an award Mr. Cameron and Mr. Landau shared.
“I can’t act and I can’t compose and I can’t do visible results, so I suppose that’s why I’m producing,” Mr. Landau mentioned in his acceptance speech.
Jon Landau was born on July 23, 1960, in New York Metropolis, in accordance with the assertion from his household. His first publicity to filmmaking was by way of his mother and father, Ely and Edie Landau, who have been each producers.
He studied on the College of Southern California Faculty of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles and later labored as a manufacturing supervisor on movies together with “Honey, I Shrunk the Children” (1989) and “Dick Tracy” (1990).
He turn into the manager vp of function productions at twentieth Century Fox, the place he oversaw movies together with “House Alone” (1990), “Mrs. Doubtfire” (1993) and “Pace” (1994).
It was throughout this time that he met Mr. Cameron, who was directing “True Lies” (1994), an motion comedy distributed by twentieth Century Fox, in accordance with the assertion. When Mr. Landau determined to go away the corporate, Mr. Cameron requested if he wished to learn the script for a venture code-named “Planet Ice.” That venture would turn into “Titanic” and kick off a partnership that lasted many years.
The second movie Mr. Landau and Mr. Cameron made collectively, “Avatar,” grossed almost $3 billion worldwide and was nominated for 9 Oscars. It received for finest artwork path, finest cinematography and finest visible results. A sequel, “Avatar: The Manner of Water,” was launched in 2022.
Mr. Landau additionally labored because the chief working officer of Mr. Cameron’s manufacturing studio, Lightstorm Leisure, and was the driving pressure behind a Walt Disney World attraction based mostly on the “Avatar” films.
The household assertion mentioned that Mr. Landau is survived by his spouse, Julie Landau; their two sons, Jamie Landau and Jodie Landau; his two sisters, Tina Landau and Kathy Landau; his brother Les Landau; and different family.
