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Well it’s about time!!

“Titanic” director set to begin work on new film
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – James Cameron is set to direct the sci-fi adventure saga “Avatar,” his first dramatic feature since the Oscar-winning blockbuster “Titanic” in 1997, distributor 20th Century Fox said Monday.
Cameron, who has been developing the story for over a decade, will start principal photography in April for a summer 2009 release.
“Avatar” is the story of a wounded ex-marine who is unwillingly sent to settle and exploit a faraway planet. He gets caught up in battle for survival by the planet’s inhabitants.
After global screen tests, he selected Australian Sam Worthington, who starred in “Somersault” and “Dirty Deeds,” to play the lead role of Jake Sully. Zoe Saldana (“The Terminal,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl”) will portray the local woman Jake gets involved with. Both actors have signed on for possible future installments as well.
Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment team has spent years researching a groundbreaking mix of live-action cinematography and virtual photorealistic production techniques for “Avatar,” which will feature virtual characters filmed for 3-D release in a new digital 3-D format. Cameron has been lobbying movie theater owners to adopt more digital projection systems. Both he and Fox are anticipating that digital 3D theaters will be widespread by 2009.
Principal photography will take place in and around Los Angeles, and in New Zealand. The visual effects will be handled by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning production house Weta Digital, which is based in Wellington.
“Avatar” is the latest creative partnership between Cameron and Fox. They first joined forces in 1985 for the sci-fi classic “Aliens.” Next came “The Abyss,” which revolutionized visual effects technology; and “True Lies,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1996, Fox greenlighted Cameron’s “Titanic,” which became the biggest blockbuster of all time, earning $1.8 billion worldwide, and won a record-breaking eleven Academy Awards, including best picture.