James Cameron's Favorite Film Almost Led Him to Direct 'Wicked'

James Cameron really loves a 1939 musical about a girl from Kansas.

Cameron recently confirmed on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast that The Wizard of Oz is his favorite film. (The podcast is also where he recently discussed the practicalities of potentially leaving the Avatar franchise if it doesn't perform at the box office.)

Cameron confirmed he met with Universal Pictures about directing the Wicked film adaptation roughly 15 years ago, not long after Avatar became the highest-grossing film of all time.

“I almost made Wicked back when," he said. "I really love the story, I mean The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite [movies]. This is going back 15 years.”

But the project never materialized. Cameron said that he "couldn't find the song," suggesting he struggled to crack the musical form.

Still, he hasn't ruled out directing a musical someday.

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The Wizard of Oz and James Cameron

The Wizard of Oz influence runs deep in Cameron's work.

When The Ringer published an oral history of Terminator 2: Judgment Day for its 30th anniversary, Cameron explained his approach to the sequel.

"Sure, there's going to be big, thunderous action sequences, but the heart of the movie is that relationship," he said. "I have always loved The Wizard of Oz. This movie is about the Tin Man getting his heart."

That emotional throughline of a character discovering their humanity became the backbone of T2. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reprogrammed T-800 learns to protect rather than destroy.

You can trace Oz's DNA in much of his filmography.

Avatar features Jake Sully eventually waking up in a beautiful, fantastical world. Also, when we meet Colonel Miles Quaritch, he even tells his troops, "You are not in Kansas anymore."

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But the deeper connection is structural, in that both films transport audiences to new worlds while grounding the experience in character transformation.

Cameron's near-involvement with Wicked seems to predate Universal's public discussions about adapting the musical, which began around 2011.

At that time, the project was discussed with several potential directors, including J.J. Abrams, Rob Marshall, and Ryan Murphy, before Jon M. Chu ultimately brought it to screen with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Wicked and Wicked: For Good have proven commercially successful, earning over $1 billion combined at the global box office.

Meanwhile, Cameron is preparing to release Avatar: Fire and Ash in December, the third entry in his record-breaking franchise.

The revelation adds another "what if" to Cameron's career, joining his orphaned attempts at a Spider-Man film in the 1990s and his involvement as producer on an X-Men project that never materialized.

"You got a musical in you?" Belloni asked on the podcast.

“I don’t know,” Cameron said. “Well, my favorite movie is a musical, Wizard of Oz.”

So, it's a maybe! Before that, Cameron will collab with Billie Eilish for a concert film.