James Cameron's Only Box Office Loss in 40 Years Came From This Surprise Hit
James Cameron is basically unstoppable at the box office.
With just nine movies, he's raked in $8 billion, putting him just behind Spielberg — who needed 36 films to hit $10 billion. In other words, if Cameron's got a release date, move your film or get crushed.
Since 1982 (yes, we're politely excluding Piranha II: The Spawning), only one Cameron movie has failed to open at number one. And the guy who pulled it off? Ron Howard. Yep — Hollywood's nicest man quietly dethroned cinema's most unrelenting perfectionist.
The year was 1989. Cameron released The Abyss, an underwater sci-fi epic with cutting-edge effects and a notoriously brutal shoot. It landed in second place, edged out by Howard's low-key family dramedy Parenthood — a heartfelt ensemble film starring Steve Martin, Dianne Wiest, Keanu Reeves, and a young Joaquin Phoenix.
Audiences in the late '80s weren't necessarily chasing sea monsters and pressure suits. They were showing up for emotional breakdowns and suburban chaos. Parenthood made $126 million. The Abyss tapped out at $90 million.
It's not that either film flopped — both were critical hits. But this was a rare moment in box office history where a grounded, grown-up movie about family angst beat a big-budget James Cameron spectacle.
Moral of the story? In 1989, heartfelt dysfunction trumped high-pressure sci-fi. And Ron Howard handed James Cameron his one and only L.