Avatar: The Way of Water.Photo: 20th Century Studios

James Cameronis simply telling it like it is concerning his highly-anticipated upcoming film,Avatar : The Way of Water.

With an estimated budget that has likely now ballooned greater than $250 million — Cameron would not tellGQan exact number other than “Very f—ing [expensive]” — the film will need to crack $2 billion to be among the top five money-makers. BeyondTitanicat No. 3 andAvatarat No. 1, the other three top five highest-grossing films areAvengers: Endgameat No. 2,Star Wars: The Force Awakensat No. 4 andAvengers: Infinity Warat No. 5.

The Oscar-winning director, 68, told Disney and 20th Century Studios executives exactly what they were getting into, he said, calling his massive undertaking “the worst business case in movie history.”

Mark Fellman/Twentieth Century Fox

To turn a profit, Cameron said he told the execs, “You have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.”

Cameron has been working on his sequel since 2013. The film was due out years ago, but kept getting the release date pushed.

Cameron’s films usually turn a monster profit, but he also works with monster budgets, including theAvatarfilms,Terminator 2: Judgment Dayand the aforementionedTitanic. And he said he took pride in his visions — which usually requires deep pockets.

“And I used to be really defensive about that because it was always the first thing anybody would mention,” Cameron said. “And now I’m like, ‘If I can make a business case to spend a billion dollars on a movie, I will f—ing do it.’ Do you want to know why? Because we don’t put it all on a pile and light it on fire. We give it to people.”

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He continued, “If the studio agrees and thinks it’s a good investment, as opposed to buying an oil lease off of the north of Scotland, which somebody would think was a good investment, why not do it?”

Avatar: The Way of Waterarrives in theaters on Dec. 16.

source: people.com