James Cameron is credited with having given the world the most successful movie of all time;  Titanic went Oscar crazy and screenings crazy, raking in almost 2 billion dollars at the box office.   Cameron, who is also credited with bringing the world Aliens and Terminator, has now officially entered post-production stage on his new $200 million sci-fi action movie, Avatar - and he says this movie, “makes Titanic look like a picnic.”

Avatar tells a story set in in the distant future when humanity discovers the planet ‘Alpha Centauri B-4′, a world of amazing diversity, beauty, and deadly ammonia-breathing lifeforms that offers priceless treasures and resources.  A wounded ex-marine is thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit B-4 but who, eventually, crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

“It’s simultaneously the most vexing and the most rewarding type of production that I’ve done yet,” Cameron says of the project.

Avatar, based on a story written 14 years ago, is set to deliver industry ground-breaking 3-D animations.  In fact, Avatar is perhaps the most eagerly awaited science fiction film of the decade for the fact that it takes place on a completely alien world and the CGI will be realistic.  Said to be 60% CGI and 40% live action, the CGI in this movie will be, from all appearances, virtually indistinguishable from real.  Just take a look at the following demo (yes, the animation looks real as its based on a similar technology to motion capture, but no, she’s not real - she’s CGI):

“It’s this form of pure creation where … if you want to move a tree or a mountain or the sky or change the time of day, you have complete control over the elements and the production design,” he said.

If the 3-D animation isn’t enough, the movie is being filmed in full 3-D stereoscopic vision.  Having worked on numerous 3-D documentaries in the last few years, Cameron is bringing Avatar to the screen in, well, 3-D/3-D.   A huge budget, an awesome storyline, fantastic actors, first rate CGI, and a whole host of other ‘first raters’ make this one movie to put on the schedule.

Speaking of fantastic actors, Avatar also includes Sigourney Weaver - reuniting her with James Cameron for the first time since they worked together on Aliens.    It also includes brilliant Australian actor Sam Worthington who, of course, will be seen playing a Terminator in Terminator: Salvation prior to the release of Avatar.

The live action component, which has taken 3 months to film, is now complete.  The film is in its post-production phase, with cinematic release scheduled for December 18, 2009.

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