While promoting the upcoming release of Avatar: Fire and Ash, James Cameron gave an interview for Deadline. In that interview, Cameron gave his thoughts on the Warner Bros. and Netflix Merger, which was announced a few weeks ago. As a filmmaker who’s made his career on big-screen spectacles, Cameron’s comments boil down to him expressing his belief that Netflix wants to downplay the theatrical experience.

“Look, it’s no secret that Netflix, they’ve kind of, in a funny way, they’ve had to make an accommodation with a few filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro and so on to keep a foot in theatrical, but I think it’s no secret that they want to replace theatrical”, explains Cameron. He then goes on to explain that, even if the deal goes through, he’ll continue to be an active supporter of the theatrical experience:

OK, I mean, maybe that happens, I don’t know, maybe I’m a dinosaur. I happen to think that there’s something sacred about the movie-going experience, and just the ease and broad access of streaming is not the complete answer. Maybe the universe adjusts around those two principles, but you can’t just steamroll theatrical out of existence, and I’m going to stay opposed to that.”

“Now, maybe Netflix modifies its game once it has the responsibility for the survival of theatrical as well. If they prevail in this, they’ll become a major, and we’re down to half the number of majors that existed when I came into the business. This is going to sort itself out, but I’m pretty four-square on the side of let’s keep that theatrical experience alive. Clearly, I make movies for that, primarily.”

The Warner Bros. and Netflix merger is currently pending and hasn’t been finalized. Avatar: Fire and Ash will be released in premium 3D and Large Formats on December 19th.