James Cameron plans film after Titanic

Filmmaker James Cameron is all set to direct his first feature film since his Oscar-winning blockbuster Titanic in 1997. The science fiction epic Avatar will start filming in April for a summer 2009 release, the Hollywood Reporter said.

With a budget of $200 million, the film will star Australian newcomer Sam Worthington in a new digital 3D format with a hybrid of live action and animation. The movie will tell the story of Jack Sully, a wounded ex-Marine who is unwillingly sent to settle and exploit the faraway planet of Pandora. He gets caught up in the battle for survival by the planet’s inhabitants, called Na’vis, and falls in love with one of them.

“We think we’re going to blow people away,” Cameron said. “We want to throw you to the back wall of the theatre. My goal is to rekindle those crazy mystical moments my generation felt when we first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey, or the next generation’s Star Wars. It took me 10 years to find something hard enough.” Cameron has made seven documentaries since Titanic became the biggest blockbuster of all time in 1997.