James Cameron says streaming services are a ‘Ponzi scheme’

James Cameron has many opinions – and he likes to share them. His latest invective is aimed at streaming platforms.

James Cameron, a man with many opinions and a proclivity to share them, has sharpened his knives for an entire segment of his industry: streaming.

The veteran filmmaker has an interesting descriptor for the platforms most audiences use to watch most TV shows and movies: “a Ponzi scheme”.

Talking to podcast The Business, hosted by entertainment journalist Kim Masters, Cameron mentioned that in the face of cinemas’ challenges during pandemic lockdowns, studios turned to streaming as a way stem the bleed.

But he said he felt as if “everyone got caught up in it” and it was something of a marketing ploy designed to placate investors as the panicked industry was on its knees.

“Everybody had a great story for Wall Street about how they were going to create all this content.

“And from what I’ve seen from afar, because I wasn’t directly in the game, it seemed like everyone was throwing stupid money at it to generate content and to try and create a new or constantly refreshing flow.

“But it seems to me now the average viewer has to have eight or 10 different subscriptions to see everything. So it seems unsustainable on its face like a big Ponzi scheme.

“I think there’s going to be some consolidation.”

James Cameron with frequent collaborator Sigourney Weaver. Picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Entertainment companies had an erratic past few years as it emerged from pandemic-related challenges.

Most notably, Netflix, which saw its subscriber base rise significantly during lockdowns, saw its stock price plummet in 2022, losing roughly two-thirds of its value at one point.

In April, it reported a subscriber decline for the first time in a decade, but turned it around by year’s end.

The streaming behemoth has now introduced an advertising-supported tier as a both an alternative revenue stream and as a way to attract more cost-conscious consumers.

Elsewhere, Warner Bros and Discovery merged and in the process cancelled a raft of in-production or finished projects, such as Batgirl, because it was more financially viable to take a multimillion-dollar writedown than to release the titles.

This week, AMC+, the streaming platform to American cable channel AMC, cancelled animated series Pantheon even though it had completed its second season.

Over at Disney, which is releasing Cameron’s Avatar sequel, drama escalated at the end of last year when chief executive Bob Chapek was suddenly ousted in favour of his predecessor Bob Iger, who was recruited to return.

Chapek’s tenure, which almost entirely overlapped with Covid, was marked by missteps but the final straw was when it was revealed Disney lost $US1.5 billion on its streaming services.

Avatar: The Way of Water has made $US1.7 billion at the box office so far.

Back to Cameron, who went on to concede that there were some plus-sides to streaming platforms, including the ability to explore stories in long-form.

Cameron is one of the more loquacious figures in Hollywood, having shared his opinions on everything from superhero movies to female action characters.

The filmmaker is on the promotional trail for Avatar: The Way of Water, his first sequel to the 2009 epic that remains the highest grossing movie of all time.

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently sitting in seventh position on the box office grid. It’s sitting on $US1.7 billion in global ticket sales after four weeks in release.

Cameron holds three of the top 10 spots on the box office all-time with Avatar at the top and Titanic in third.

Avatar: The Way of Water had an enormous production budget – reported to be over $US350 million – and a sizeable marketing spend. Cameron previously said the movie would have to be the third or fourth highest grossing movies (roughly $US2 billion) before it broke even.