Alerts & Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH, Sam Worthington as Sully, 2025.
© 20th Century Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection
© 20th Century Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection

James Cameron’s Avatar has definitely staked its claim as one of the most successful movie franchises in history. When the 2009 movie came out, it became the highest-grossing box office movie of all time reaching over $2 billion in gross. Now with two sequels out, and more hopefully to come, some celebrities want to bank on its success.

Matt Damon claimed that the Titanic director offered him the starring role of Jake Sully, but his schedule didn’t match up. “Jim Cameron called me — he offered me 10 percent of Avatar,” Damon says in the clips (below). “You will never meet an actor who turned down more money than me … I was in the middle of shooting the Bourne movie and I would have to leave the movie kind of early and leave them in the lurch a little bit and I didn’t want to do that.”

Related: Zoe Saldana’s Net Worth Is Impressive But She’s Far From MCUs Highest-Paid Actor

Now, James Cameron has addressed the claims. “He was never offered the part,” Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter, saying it was mostly availability issues. “I can’t remember if I sent him the script or not. I don’t think I did?”

“Now what he’s done is he’s extrapolated ‘I get 10 percent of the gross on all my films.’ And if, in his mind, that’s what it would’ve taken for him to do Avatar, then it wouldn’t have happened. Trust me on that.”

But did he offer that to any of the cast who did star in the film?

Avatar: Fire and Ash salaries

StyleCaster Daily
Get the latest news and style intel delivered to your inbox.

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

PMC Logo
StyleCaster is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 SheMedia, LLC. All Rights Reserved.