In director James Cameron's original script treatment of Avatar, a man tries to make his way as a miner by combining with an alien during an interplanetary war in which aliens can manifest themselves by possessing human bodies � avatars.

When Avatar was titled "Project 880", a casting call was put out in June 2006 with a plot description provided, saying, "In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture."

In December 2006, Cameron described Avatar as "a futuristic tale set on a planet 200 years hence... an old-fashioned jungle adventure with an environmental conscience... [that] aspires to a mythic level of storytelling." The January 2007 press release described the film: "Avatar is also an emotional journey of redemption and revolution. It is the story of a wounded ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival," and "We're creating an entire world, a complete ecosystem of phantasmagorical plants and creatures, and a native people with a rich culture and language."

A Peek at the Na'vi in Cameron's Avatar?

MarketSaw has gotten its hands on a crew T-shirt from the set of James Cameron's Avatar that gives a first look at a silhouette of the Na'vi, which inhabit the exotic planet that an ex-Marine travels to in an effort to settle and exploit. The ex-Marine eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

The film, opening December 18, 2009, stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang and Matt Gerald.

James Cameron on Avatar

The Hollywood Reporter has published a new interview with director James Cameron talking about his highly-anticipated new feature, Avatar, coming to theaters on December 18, 2009. Here's a clip from the interview:

When completed, Cameron expects "Avatar" to be about 60% CG animation, based on characters created using a newly developed performance capture-based process, and 40% live action, with a lot of VFX in the imagery.

"It is the most challenging film I've ever made," Cameron said.

Still, the innovative filmmaker and digital 3-D pioneer and champion has never shifted his emphasis from storytelling.

"You have to make a good film that would be a good film under any circumstances," he said. "You have to put the narrative first. The reality is no matter how many (3-D) screens we get, you are still going to have a large number of people -- possibly the majority of people -- who see the film in a 2-D environment."

Oh yeah... it was in 3D (with glasses)... I remember clearly coz one part the train would stop and it felt as if the train's nose almost touch your face.

whats next?

I saw from the web news. There's gonna be a sequel? o.o"" It looks like it has end pretty well. So if there's a sequel it involves just that planet imo?? Will c .. But I suppose since it implies human colonist in outer space and such.

James Cameron plans not one but two 'Avatar' sequels

Yes, there will be a sequel.

James Cameron, director of the weekend’s hit sci-fi film “Avatar,” tells MTV News he doesn’t plan to follow the story of Jake and Neytiri for one more film — he’s planning two more.

"I have a trilogy-scaled arc of story right now, but I haven't really put any serious work into writing a script," he said.

This first installment took four years to create, but fans might not have to wait that long for the next chapter. Much of the work on the original movie perfected the process for the next two, he said.

"Part of what we set out to do is create a world and create these characters," Cameron said. "From the time we capture and finish the capture, it's literally nine to 10 months to get the CG characters working, to get their facial musculature working. ... So now we have Jake, we have Neytiri. Sam can step right back into it, the characters will fit them like a glove, and we'll just go on. So a lot of the start-up torque that had to be done for one movie really makes more sense if you play it out across several films."

“Avatar” opened this weekend to a $232.2 million worldwide gross.

Last week, Cameron reflected on his previous successes — and when, in the process of the films’ rollouts, he knew they were successful enough at the box office to cover their enormous production costs. He said he didn’t expect the kind of big opening weekend for “Avatar” that he got with his other landmark movies, such as “Titanic” (which has now grossed nearly $2 billion) and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

“Let’s face it. It wasn’t settled on ‘Titanic’ till week 10. ‘Titanic’ was the No. 1 picture for 16 weeks. I don’t expect that kind of performance out of ‘Avatar.”’

But, he added, “if we announce the sequel, then we hit the number.”

The Navis didn't know that the avatar is controlled by a human at first, right? Where did they think these avatar come from then? I think it was mentioned that the 'sky people' (which means human) sent them? And how are they able to tell the avatar isn't one of them? By the way they dress?

I think I missed that part.

James Cameron should fuse "Avatar" and "Titanic" together... "Avatanic" 

Imagine the Titanic ship mysteriously floats into the unknown cold ocean waters, and when everything clears, they are on Pandora's ocean! The occupants rush to see this mysterious place... and they start venturing. And then the encounters begin... "Top of the morning, mate!" A passenger says to a Na'vi. "<navi language>" says the Na'vi. Then the attack begins. Before the attack, the Na'vi start rounding up more warriors and tribes and give long speeches. All the passengers board the Titanic in panic. Some don't make it. That makes the captain of the ship angry. And wants revenge.

The Na'vi begin attacking the ship and all hell breaks lose. Incredibly, the Titanic is somehow equipped with awesomeness weapons and starts shooting at them Na'vi pew-pew laser fire... then all the Pandora flying creatures including the Great Leonopteryx and Mountain Banshees start attacking the ship.

An epic battle... a tragic tale... and in the middle of it all... Jack and Rose struggles to find balance. In the end, Jack meets Neytiri and falls for her. Rose meets Jake Sully and falls for him. Their worlds cross in a movie unlike anything you've ever seen... or had never been seen in this manner.

And... how can anyone not love to hate a bad guy who, with his goddamn clothes on fire, can calmly take his time to get into his mech, before using his bare hands to PAT OFF the fire?

So when the local Cinema gonna shut this movie down? 

I havent watch yet. Wanna watch b4 Cinema shut it down

Check out the Chinese newspapers for the Avatar advertisement - they have the same advertisement with the LowYat forum quotes but translated into Chinese.

China renames 'Avatar' mountain in honour of film

A Chinese mountain has reportedly been renamed in honour of the sci-fi film Avatar, after claims it had inspired scenery in the fantasy blockbuster.

The Southern Sky Column in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, will now be known as the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain.

Local officials said photographs of the mountain had been used as the basis for Avatar's fictional world of Pandora.

Avatar has become the most popular film ever in China, making $80m (£50m) at the box office so far.

Xiaoxiang Morning News said the mountain was officially renamed at a ceremony on Monday.

The paper said a photographer from Hollywood had visited the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, the location of the mountain, in 2008.

"Many pictures he took then become prototypes for various elements in the Avatar movie, including the 'Hallelujah Mountains'," Reuters quoted the website as saying.

Avatar tours

The renaming of the mountain is one of the several attempts by Zhangjiajie to capitalise on the success of Avatar.

The municipal government website has also adopted the slogan "Pandora is far but Zhangjiajie is near", while tourists are being offered tours of the locations which allegedly inspired the film, Reuters reports.

Avatar follows the plight of the blue N'avi people as they fight to protect their land from a mining operation.

The film has been showing on 2,500 screens across China. One-third were Imax and 3D screens while the rest were regular 2D screens.

But earlier this month, China pulled 2D versions of the film from cinemas, saying they were not doing well commercially.

Critics said the move was to make way for domestic films - especially the state-backed biopic of the philosopher Confucius - and because the plot too closely mirrored forced land evictions in the country.

News Corp. in Early Talks with Cameron for Avatar 2

News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said during his quarterly earnings call on Tuesday that the company, which owns 20th Century Fox, is in early talks with James Cameron about a possible Avatar sequel.

Cameron "has ideas about it," he said, adding: "We will be pushing one." The Hollywood Reporter says Murdoch cautioned analysts not to "hold your breath for another one" in a possible reference to Cameron projects often taking a long time to come to fruition.

News Corporation deputy chairman, president and COO Chase Carey interjected that both sides want to make another movie.

Asked about the Blu-ray and DVD release, Murdoch said Avatar will be released during the company's current fiscal year, which ends June 30. He added that it won't be a 3D release as the technology isn't developed enough yet. A 3D release may be possible "down the road," Carey said.