Biography

Jon Landau (/ˈlændaʊ/; July 23, 1960–July 5, 2024) was an American film producer who won an Academy Award for Best Picture for producing James Cameron's epic romantic disaster film Titanic (1997). He was also nominated for producing Cameron's epic science fiction films, Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). As of 2024, these are three of the four highest-grossing films of all time.

Landau was born in New York City on July 23, 1960, as the son of Edie, a producer, and Ely A. Landau, a studio executive and producer. He had two half-brothers, Neil Landau and Les Landau, and two sisters, Tina Landau and Kathy Landau. He attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Landau was Jewish.

Throughout the early 1990s, Landau was executive vice president of feature film production at Twentieth Century Fox. In 1993, he would meet James Cameron while he was, as Cameron put it, "serving as the studio ‘suit’ assigned to oversee True Lies." According to Cameron, he "lured" Landau "away from Fox to join my production company, Lightstorm."

He was best known for producing Titanic (1997), a film that won him an Academy Award and became the highest-grossing film of all time, the first ever to reach $1 billion in gross revenues. The film reached $1.84 billion, more than double the $914 million of then-record-holder Jurassic Park (1993). Titanic later went on to gross another $300 million in 2012, pushing the film's worldwide total to $2.18 billion, becoming the second film to ever hit $2 billion as a result.

In 2009, Landau and James Cameron produced the science fiction blockbuster Avatar, which has since surpassed their earlier collaboration, Titanic, to become the new highest-grossing film of all time, with $2.92 billion. Avatar earned Landau his second Academy Award nomination. Shortly after his death in July 2024, James Cameron stated that it was Landau who was in fact "the heart of the Avatar family” and "the centre of gravity of our bubble universe."

For nearly 40 years, Landau was married to Julie Lamm. They had two sons.

Landau died in Los Angeles on July 5, 2024, at the age of 63. Variety reported that he died of cancer. Avatar: Fire and Ash, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5, which were produced by him prior to his death, will be released posthumously.

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