We had one film release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Avatar: The Way of Water

While we often say that everything Spielberg touches comes up for Oscar gold, James Cameron is no slouch either. Avatar: The Way of Water marks Cameron’s 9th feature film since bursting onto the scene in 1982 with Piranha II and following that up with The Terminator and Aliens. While his first two films didn’t score any Oscar nominations, his third did. Aliens was the first in a streak of six films that scored Oscar nominations. Seven went to Aliens, four went to The Abyss, six went to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, one went to True Lies, fourteen went to Titanic, and nine went to Avatar. That’s, so far, 41 total nominations across six films and even Spielberg would be impressed by that.

When it comes to wins, Cameron did quite well. Those films received two, one, four, zero, eleven, and three respectively, for a total of 21, so roughly more than half of his films’ nominations have resulted in a win. What can his nominations and victories say about this film’s chances? They are high, though perhaps not as high as Avatar‘s tallies. Where is he most likely to show up? Visual Effects is a guarantee. Out of his six prior films, all of them were nominated in that category and five of the six won. It’s the only slam dunk on the list. After that, Sound, Production Design, Cinematography, and Sound Effects were on four of the six films’ Oscar slates, so each of them is a strong possibility with the exception of Sound Effects, his second-most commonly awarded category, because it doesn’t exist any longer. However, with two wins in Sound, Production Design, and Cinematography, those are also threats for a win.

Original Score featured in three of the six films while Actress, Makeup, Picture, and Directing were selections for two films. These represent the lesser likely categories, but all of which are possible. Where not to expect it is Costume Design, Song, and Supporting Actress, which were only nominated for Titanic and none of the other projects. Of course, he’s never been featured in lead or supporting actor or either screenwriting category, so he’s not quite been able to feature in every category and probably won’t for this film.