The Avatar Chronicles

Following a ten year odyssey with projects like Titanic and the documentaries Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep, filmmaker James Cameron is ready to return to the genre that put him on the map. Get ready for the Sci-fi flick Avatar...

Gabriel Snyder and Nicole LaPorte of Variety:

James Cameron and 20th Century Fox are moving forward with the long-planned $200 million production of his 3-D sci-fi tentpole "Avatar" and are aiming for a summer 2009 release.

"Avatar" pits a band of humans in a battle against a distant planet's indigenous population.

Cameron's pic, officially announced Monday, will hit screens 12 years after the helmer's last feature -- "Titanic," which holds the all-time box office record with $1.8 billion in worldwide ticket sales -- was released in 1997.

The helmer also had been developing "Battle Angel," about a 26th century female cyborg, but said Monday his efforts have been focused on "Avatar" since 2005. "I've been working on this picture exclusively for the last year and a half," he said.

Cameron's "Avatar" will employ CG techniques with which the director has been experimenting over the last several years, including on his underwater 3-D docus "Ghosts of the Abyss" and "Aliens of the Deep." The aim of the techniques is to seamlessly blend CGI and live-action footage and characters.

Techniques Cameron has developed via his Lightstorm Entertainment banner include motion-capture CG that can record an actor's facial expressions and a virtual camera system that allows him to see in real time the way his actor-based CG characters interact with their virtual worlds.

Cameron conceived the story for "Avatar" 11 years ago, but waited for the technology to catch up before fully immersing himself in the pic. "I've wanted to do it since then, but sort of shoved it in the back of a drawer," he told Daily Variety. Despite Cameron's "picking away" at the film for the last year and a half, Fox greenlit the film only this week.

Live-action production is slated to begin in April in Los Angeles, with Peter Jackson's New Zealand effects shop Weta doing the major effects work.

Cameron decided to team with Weta after meeting with Jackson and his writing and producing partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in New Zealand. "They sat with me and discussed the script for the better part of a day, giving me their ideas and input," Cameron said. "That whole group down there seems to be a culture that reflects Peter's passion for fantasy filmmaking. It reminds me of how ILM was 25 years ago."

Principal photography will be in 3-D; Cameron hopes the digital cinema equipment needed to show 3-D pics in regular theaters will be pervasive enough by then to allow for a wide 3-D release. He said by summer 2009, there will be between 1,000 and 2,000 3-D screens in the U.S.

"I feel that we're over the hump of the battle domestically," Cameron said. "The international, which typically accounts for as much as two-thirds of revenue on a picture like 'Avatar,' is what's lagging behind."

Cameron said it would take "major filmmakers announcing major projects" for the international exhibition community to play catch-up and realize that "if they want to compete, they'll have to have the same showmanship as in the States."

He added the 3-D experience was a way for Hollywood to keep drawing auds to theaters and away from the proliferation of digital platforms, adding 3-D "maintains that sense of showmanship and gives people something special. It's something that people can't have at home, can't watch on their laptop."

As he did on "Titanic," Cameron sought to cast largely unknown actors for his leads. Young Aussie actor Sam Worthington will play an ex-Marine who ends up leading the planet's indigenous species in battle against the human colonizers. In the lead female role, Zoe Saldana ("Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl") will play a local woman with whom Worthington's character falls in love...

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There's no doubt that Cameron can pull this off technically. Ultimately, the film will rise or fall though, on the chemistry between Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. I'm thrilled that Cameron is finally getting out of the water and moving on with his movie career...

On the heels of that announcement, it seems that writer/director M. Night Shyamalan, is also making a film with Avatar in the title.

Pamela McClintock and Gabriel Snyder have the details

M. Night Shyamalan and Paramount are planning their own "Avatar" project, based on the popular Nickelodoen kids TV series.

The filmmaker has inked a three-picture deal with Par's MTV Films and Nick Movies to adapt animated kiddie skein "Avatar: The Last Airbender" for the big screen. He will write, direct and produce the potential kids franchise.

Film version will be live-action.

Nick TV's "Avatar," which is set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world permeated by martial arts and magic, follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars who must put aside his irresponsible ways and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations.

Created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, "Avatar" debuted on the Nicktoons lineup in February 2005. Aimed at 6- to 11-year-olds, show has nabbed strong ratings, including outside its intended demo. It is among the top 10 animated series on all of TV among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14.

Paramount confirmed the pact with Shyamalan just hours after Fox Filmed Entertainment announced it is greenlighting James Cameron's "Avatar," the director's first feature since "Titanic."

Although they may have the same name, the two projects have nothing to do with each other in terms of storylines...

Par said it has registered the name of its project with the Motion Picture Assn. of America.

A Fox rep said, "We own the movie title 'Avatar.' There won't be another film called 'Avatar' coming from anyplace."...

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Lady in the Water tanked at the cineplex. Shaymalan is in need of a hit if he wants to revive his faltering career--Yeah, good luck with that...