Cameron received the Bradbury Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1991—but, being primarily thought of as a genre filmmaker, he did not receive any major mainstream filmmaking awards prior to Titanic. With Titanic, Cameron received Academy Awards for Best Editing (shared with Conrad Buff and Richard A. Harris), Best Picture (shared with Jon Landau), and Best Director. He also won a Golden Globe for best director for the film.
In recognition of "a distinguished career as a Canadian filmmaker", Carleton University, Ottawa, awarded Cameron the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts on June 13, 1998. Cameron accepted the degree in person and gave the Convocation Address.[citation needed]
In 1998, Cameron attended convocation to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Ryerson University, Toronto. The university awards its highest honor to those who have made extraordinary contributions in Canada, or internationally.
In recognition of his contributions to underwater filming and remote vehicle technology, the University of Southampton awarded Cameron the honorary degree of Doctor of the University. Cameron received his degree in person at the graduation ceremony in July, 2004.[citation needed]
On June 3, 2008, it was announced that he would be inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.[42] On December 18, 2009, Cameron received the 2,396th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[43]
On January 17, 2010, James Cameron received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for his work, Avatar.[44].

James Cameron is an award winning film-maker, this is a good factor considering it boosted the amount of views there were, this could be in the older generations point of view that they have liked his previous work, but in a child's perspective he also made it so that it was a popular film.
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Also well known actors/actresses where used for the film, this is also a good factor considering it would have been a major risk putting an unknown cast and so much money into a film that would have not been successful.