Jon Landau, Oscar-Winning Producer Behind Titanic and Avatar, Dies at 63
Landau was instrumental in helping bring to life many of James Cameron's biggest hits.
Jon Landau, the Oscar-winning producer behind Titanic, Avatar, and many more, has died at the age of 63.
As reported by TheWrap, a source close to Landau's family shared that he died after a battle against cancer.
Landau was born on July 30, 1960, in New York, New York, and was the son of producers Ely and Edie Landau. He grew up in the world of film and would go on to attend USC's School of Cinematic Arts to train for a professional life in Hollywood.
Throughout the 1990s, Landau served as executive vice president of feature film production at Twentieth Century Fox, but one of his biggest claims to fame was undoubtedly his work as a producer on Titanic. Alongside becoming the first movie to ever cross $1 billion, it was also the highest-grossing film of all time until James Cameron surpassed himself and released Avatar in 2009.
Landau won an Oscar for producing Titanic, and he would earn another Academy Award nomination for working with Cameron again on Avatar.
Alongside Avatar: The Way of Water, Landau also produced or co-produced Dick Tracy, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Solaris, Alita: Battle Angel, and more.
Landau was still very much involved in the future of the Avatar franchise, and even helped share the first behind-the-scenes image of Avatar 3 back in 2023. He was also very involved in such other Avatar projects like the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and bringing Pandora to life at Walt Disney World.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
