It showed up out of nowhere, made the most bank in history (for a movie), refused to explain and disappeared for like 15 years, then came back out of nowhere with a sequel movie, a AAA game, and like 3 more movies in the works.
Edit: I think it now has like a Lego line too?
On the other hand, he directed Titanic, which probably also had tech advances, but is recognized more for the story. Is that a fair observation? I was still a kid when it came out, so I know less about it than Avatar.
He helped to further submarine technology to get the shots of the Titanic for the movie, and he developed cameras that could withstand the pressures down there. He also helped design a small rover camera called Snoopy that actually went inside the Titanic to get shots of the staircase.
no the tech was very much the focus at the time. they did some incredible stuff for that film.