Before director James Cameron became “king of the world” he sat on the hottest of hot seats. Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic” arrived with enough bad buzz to sink a battleship. Time magazine ran a cover story on the bloated, $200 million affair with the words, “Glub, Glub, Glub” as the tag line. All signs suggested the headstrong director behind “Terminator” and “True Lies” had bitten off far more than he could chew, and Hollywood was ready to rub his nose in an epic failure. What happened next? “Titanic” became the biggest blockbuster of all time, at least up until he dethroned himself (twice) with 2009’s “Avatar” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022). One man is responsible for three of the most popular American films in U.S. history. This Cameron fella knows what he’s doing and, more importantly, what moviegoers crave. He better, since Hollywood is banking on his latest film to give theaters one last jolt before 2025 wraps. And, up until now, it hasn’t been a blockbuster year for movies. Can Cameron save Hollywood with “Avatar: Fire and Ash?” The December 19 release is the third film in the enviro-friendly franchise. Once again, Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang bring the world of Pandora to life, along with endless zeroes and ones. The CGI-heavy franchise slathers recognizable stars with endless digital effects. “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Photo by 20th Century Studios/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS – Copyright 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB. The latest “Avatar” installment finds the Sully clan dealing with a new threat along with a familiar foe. A violent Na’vi faction dubbed the Ash People has aligned with the evil Colonel Quaritch (Lang), setting up more action-packed sequences in the bustling saga. That’s roughly all we know about the film. Team Cameron knows less is more when it comes to movie marketing. Plenty is riding on the film, including the saga’s future. Cameron has said if “Fire and Ash” underperforms, parts 4 and 5 could be in jeopardy. He’s betting “Fire and Ash” will come close to replicate his past successes, partially based on early box office predictions. The film is expected to rake in at least $110 million in its opening frame. He’s not alone in wishing for the best. The box office isn’t the same as it once was, not even when “The Way of Water” helped theaters bounce back from the pandemic shutdowns three years ago. For every “A Minecraft Movie” or “Sinners,” there are many 2025 films that either flopped or dramatically underperformed in 2025. “Christy.” “The Alto Knights.” “Good Fortune.” “Snow White.” “Elio.” “Tron: Ares.” Even some hits have been misses. “One Battle After Another” is approaching $70 million at the U.S. box office, but the film’s price tag (a reported $130 million) means it’ll lose plenty for Warner Bros. One report suggests that figure could be $100 million. Variety reports that this year is currently 2.9 percent ahead of 2024, hardly a boastful account. Stateside revenues are still more than 22 percent behind 2019. That’s the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered movie houses and sent patrons scrambling to streaming services. That, plus the continued rise of social media, video games, and streaming platforms, leaves cinema uniquely vulnerable as 2026 approaches. “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Photo by 20th Century Studios/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS – Copyright 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB. There’s something else about Cameron’s “Avatar” franchise that isn’t discussed enough. Do people actually care about the saga and its heroic figures? How many Halloween costumes have been inspired by the series? Does “Avatar” merchandise sales spike when a new film hits theaters? Comic-Con Nation genuflects to “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” the MCU, and other geek-friendly IPs. Does “Avatar” hold sway over that demographic in a similar fashion? Are names like Neytiri, Jake Sully, and Miles Quaritch as recognizable as Han, Luke, and Leia? What about Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy? Hardly. Cameron has spent much of his career defying the odds, and his “Avatar” films do so in another remarkable way. The phrase, “get woke go broke” finally pierced the Hollywood bubble in recent years. The industry has dialed back on its progressive messaging, realizing audiences would rather be entertained than lectured. Yet the “Avatar” saga is unabashedly pro-environment and, on more than a few occasions, anti-human. We’re meant to root for the Na’vi, not Colonel Quaritch and his human foot soldiers. Photo by 20th Century Studios/20TH CENTURY STUDIOS – Copyright 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved. IMDB. The director’s green activism infects every frame of his “Avatar” films, and he makes no apologies about it. That hasn’t impacted the franchise’s box office receipts, though. Not yet, at least. Cameron’s undeniable skills can take eco-lectures and dress them up in clear-eyed action sequences and relatable themes. The pro-family sentiment of “The Way of Water,” for example, was impossible to miss. Look past the director’s progressive streak and you’ll find a populist lurking in plain sight. And while most filmmakers have wisely left 3D technology behind, Cameron clings to the format while pushing cinema technology forward. Each new “Avatar” film represents a leap in what’s possible on the big screen. Who knows what “Fire and Ash” will deliver come December. Boy, could the industry use another Cameron miracle to christen the New Year’s box office dreams and, in theory, prove the “rising tide lifts all boats” axiom anew. It wouldn’t be the first time Cameron defied the odds, but they haven’t been stacked so tall in ages. * * * Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at HollywoodInToto.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The United States’ approval of a $330 million arms sale to Taiwan on Thursday represents both a symbolic and strategic turning point in U.S.-Taiwan relations under President Donald Trump’s second term. The package — covering spare and repair parts for Taiwan’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets, C-130 transport aircraft, and other military planes — marks the first U.S. arms transfer to the island since Trump returned to office in January. While modest in dollar value relative to past transactions, the approval underscores Washington’s continued commitment to Taiwan’s defense amid escalating Chinese military pressure. The Pentagon described the deal as vital for maintaining the operational readiness of Taiwan’s air fleet and improving its capacity to meet “current and future threats.” By ensuring Taiwan’s aircraft remain mission-capable, the sale strengthens the island’s ability to counter frequent “gray-zone” incursions — non-combat pressure tactics by China that test Taiwan’s air defenses through near-daily aerial and maritime patrols. The sale is expected to take effect within a month, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which praised Washington for sustaining a regularized schedule of support. Taipei’s presidential office thanked the U.S. for continuing its long-standing arms sales policy, calling the deepening defense partnership a cornerstone of peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific. Taiwan’s appreciation contrasts sharply with Beijing’s fury. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated that the “Taiwan question” remains the “first red line” in China-U.S. relations, calling the sale a serious violation of the one-China principle and the three bilateral joint communiqués that frame diplomatic engagement. China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, warned that such U.S. actions interfere in its internal affairs and damage its sovereignty. In recent years, Beijing has imposed penalties on defense companies linked to Taiwan arms sales, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics. These sanctions, ranging from property freezes to entry bans on executives, have become Beijing’s primary diplomatic tool to protest U.S. military support for the island. Under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), passed in 1979 after Washington severed formal ties with Taipei, the United States is legally bound to provide weapons of a “defensive character.” While maintaining unofficial relations, Washington remains Taiwan’s most significant arms provider and security partner. The Trump administration’s approval of the $330 million sale reflects continuity with that legal mandate while signaling that U.S. strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific still hinge on preventing Chinese coercion. This latest transaction follows a series of U.S. arms sales over the past two years, including a $75 million package in February 2024 and a $385 million package in November 2024, both of which aimed to upgrade Taiwan’s communications, radar, and fighter capabilities. Collectively, these deals address a significant delivery backlog — valued at more than $21 billion as of early 2025 — that has long constrained Taiwan’s defense modernization. The recent approval also comes shortly after the 24th U.S.-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Maryland, where officials projected that arms sales could reach record levels in 2026 once Taipei passes its new multi-year defense budget, potentially exceeding 3% of GDP. The latest sale thus serves as a reaffirmation of Washington’s strategic resolve to equip Taiwan with the means of self-defense while recalibrating relations with Beijing amid regional power competition. For Taipei, the decision reinforces deterrence and operational endurance against China’s intensifying military drills.

WASHINGTON—If you’ve ever received a text message claiming to be from the United States Postal Service about an undelivered package — or from E-ZPass demanding payment for an unpaid toll — you may have been targeted by a Chinese phishing operation. Lighthouse, a China-based Phishing-as-a-Service operation, has targeted over a million victims through its elaborate text message scam, Google alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The company says Lighthouse’s scheme “swindled innocent victims out of millions of dollars.” “Defendants have affirmatively directed actions at the United States, including the Southern District of New York, by creating fake websites mimicking the New York City government website (nyc.gov) and New York E-ZPass website (e-zpassny.com), among many others, for use in these phishing schemes,” the complaint said. According to the filing, the software used by the defendants allowed cybercriminals to send mass text messages to large numbers of victims simultaneously. Google says it was also harmed by the misuse of its trademarks and services. “In facilitating and executing these phishing campaigns, the Lighthouse Enterprise preys on the public trust in Google, a leader in the technology space, by misappropriating Google branding, including by using Google logos on fraudulent websites,” the complaint said. Google’s logos were used on spoofed websites to trick victims into providing personal and financial information, according to the company. The court this week granted Google a temporary restraining order against Lighthouse, which has since gone dark. “This shutdown of Lighthouse’s operations is a win for everyone,” Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado told The Daily Wire. “We will continue to hold malicious scammers accountable and protect consumers.” The company said it had devoted “substantial resources to investigate and combat the Lighthouse Enterprise’s criminal activity.” An investigation by SECAlliance revealed that between July 2023 and October 2024, the platform was used to launch fake USPS phishing websites and said somewhere between 12.7 and 115 million credit cards were estimated to have been compromised across the nation. The texts claim that the victims have an “undelivered package” and lead them to a fake website, which steals their information. While the full scope of the enterprise remains unclear, the complaint said the Lighthouse Enterprise includes “several connected threat actor groups.” Google’s efforts to fight cybercriminals don’t end there. This year, the company launched new features, including using artificial intelligence to flag common scam messages. The company is also announcing the endorsement of three bipartisan pieces of legislation targeting cyber scams. This includes the Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception (GUARD) Act, the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act, and the Scam Compound Accountability and Mobilization (SCAM) Act. “From the courtroom to the Capitol, we are taking action to stop these attacks. But this is a shared fight. While we take on criminal networks and advocate for stronger laws, we are also building smarter, AI-driven tools to help you spot and avoid these scams,” Prado said. The company says it hopes to “make the digital world a much harder place for criminals to do business.”

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