Even as director James Cameron waits with bated breath to see if his latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, was worth the time and investment, audiences are flocking towards his earlier films with great enthusiasm. The jury’s still out on whether Avatar 3 is a success — it hasn’t been running for even a week — but it’s obvious that Cameron’s films hold a special place in the hearts of millions. Not only are Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water experiencing spikes in viewership at home, the filmmaker’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day is also seeing an increase in attention. And beginning next month, his most underrated film will likely also resurface on the streaming charts, not long after Cameron oversaw a restoration that wasn’t exactly well-received. The movie in question, The Abyss, is heading to the Hulu streaming service domestically next month, where a new generation of audiences can admire its technical achievements.

Released in 1989, The Abyss remains Cameron’s only sci-fi bomb. It couldn’t crack the $100 million mark at the global box office, against a production budget of just under $50 million. It likely turned a profit for the studio over the years, as most movies of its size and stature tend to. Starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn, the film marked the beginning of Cameron’s fascination with deep-sea diving. He’s now an accomplished diver and explorer in his own right and has undertaken several perilous journeys to the depths of the ocean over the years. Titanic and Avatar 2 were born of this fascination for the wonders of submarine existence. The Abyss was praised for its cutting-edge water-based visual effects, which Cameron had earlier experimented with in Terminator 2. It went on to win the Academy Award in the VFX category.

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Has Already Made Four Times More Than ‘The Abyss’

The movie did fairly well with critics, and is now sitting at a 76% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “The utterly gorgeous special effects frequently overshadow the fact that The Abyss is also a totally gripping, claustrophobic thriller, complete with an interesting crew of characters.” Cameron bounced back with True Lies a few years later, and then delivered the then-highest-grossing movie in history, Titanic. After a gap of 12 years, he directed the first Avatar, which overtook Titanic to become the biggest film of all time. Avatar 2 was released 13 years after that, and Avatar 3 debuted this past week. The new movie is on the verge of passing the $400 million mark worldwide. You can watch it in theaters, and wait for The Abyss to hit Hulu next month. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.