Avatar Sequel - James Cameron Plans Historical Deep-Sea Dive

The Avatar Sequel - James Cameron's next big production is already in the works in Australia. The Avatar director is planning on traveling 36,000ft to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean to shoot footage for the sequel to his 2009 block-buster.

To reach such depths, the filmmaker has commissioned engineers to build a custom vessel to explore the deep blue.

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According to the Daily Express, the two-seater submersible will come equipped with 3D cameras to record footage underwater.

"We are building a vehicle to do the dive. It's about half-completed in Australia," Cameron said.

If the 56-year-old Oscar-winner makes it to the bottom, he will only the second ever team to do so. A navy lieutenant and a scientist took five hours to descend to the sea floor in 1960.

Will James Cameron Romance Cleopatra Before Avatar 2?

James Cameron is not a man exactly hurting for work: he has the Avatar sequel in active development, has been writing a novel set in the Pandora universe and has at least three other projects bubbling along. So when Deadline reports that Sony is chasing him to direct their epic new take on Cleopatra, starring Angelina Jolie, we raise a quizzical eyebrow and mark it down as a “possible” for now.

But apparently Sony and boss Amy Pascal are of the opinion that he’s the perfect man for the job.

We can see their point – Cameron knows how to do epic and his bigger films (you might have heard of Titanic and Avatar) make big bucks. But while Titanic was a historical drama, Cleopatra would be something else again.

And though the script was the one thing that most people felt was lacking about the ship-set disaster pic, Cleopatra comes with extra assurance – a screenplay by Brian Helgeland that is reportedly "brilliant”, deserving of epic treatment" and all about "what the Romans took from Egypt".

Jolie has been attached for a while, almost since producer Scott Rudin nabbed the rights to the source material, Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra: A Life, which de-mystifies the woman and discovers her real strengths. So, again: strong woman lead, real Cameron territory.

It’s likely to be expensive and Sony really wants it shooting next year, aiming to capitalise on its new, The Tourist-driven relationship with Jolie. The schedule might be the biggest sticking point, as Cameron would likely put his own films first. But a huge, 3D epic history with a fresh take on Cleopatra, starring Jolie, brought to cinemas by James Cameron? Surely that’d be a thing to see…

James White

Avatar's James Cameron kicks in $1 million

James Cameron, the director of Avatar, the environmental fable masquerading as a 3-D blockbuster, popped a million dollars Friday into the campaign to defeat Proposition 23, a California ballot initiative to suspend the state's global warming law.

Cameron, who has previously embraced such environmental causes as saving the Amazon and battling Canadian tar sands development, is the first entertainment industry figure to make a major donation in the initiative fight. However, another player with deep Hollywood ties, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, held a fundraiser at his home in Brentwood last month to raise money to fight the measure, which he sees as a threat to his legacy of promoting clean energy.

"Mr. Cameron is not only a filmmaker with a conscience," said No on Prop. 23 spokesman Steve Maviglio, "he is willing to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to a fight for California jobs and our clean energy future."

California’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, known as AB 32, is the most aggressive law in the country aimed at controlling pollution from fossil fuel burning that scientists say is disrupting Earth’s climate. It would slash greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 through regulations that would force utilities to get a third of their electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind plants, improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles and cap emissions from industrial plants.

Prop. 23 is mainly funded by oil refiners whose costs would rise under the global warming law. It would suspend the law until unemployment in California drops to 5.5% for a year — a level that historically has rarely been achieved. Current joblessness is over 12%.

Cameron's donation comes as contributions from clean-tech executives, environmental groups and wealthy conservationists opposing Prop. 23 have surged to more than $20 million in the last month, outpacing the $9 million raised so far by the initiative's backers.

Maviglio said opponents of the measure fear that oil companies and other industries affected by the global warming law could pour money into the fight at the last minute. “We are girding for what the oil companies traditionally have done on California ballot measures, when they've dumped millions of dollars into the campaign in the final stretch," he said.

Bill Day, a spokesman for Valero Energy Corp., a Texas-based oil refiner who is the largest contributor to the initiative, said the company "has not made any decisions at this point about additional financial support to the Prop. 23 campaign.”

--Margot Roosevelt

EXCLUSIVE! Will James Cameron Be The One To Direct Angelina Jolie In ‘Cleopatra?’

Everything James Cameron touches becomes virtual movie magic. From Titanic to Avatar he’s got what it takes to win Oscar gold and is hoping to make Cleopatra his next blockbuster hit!

When you hear the name James Cameron, 56, you think A-list movie director. He has worked with the best in the business and has a knack for picking projects that rake in the big bucks. Next on his wish list? According to our sister side Deadline: Hollywood, it’s an adaptation of Cleopatra: The Life by Stacy Schiff. At the helm to play the Queen of the Nile is none other than Hollywood bombshell, humanitarian and mother of six, 35-year-old Angelina Jolie.

It’s the perfect role for Angelina who has expressed a deep interest in portraying one of the most famous women in all of history. This wouldn’t be the first time Angelina played a Queen. She took on the role of Queen Olympias in Alexander.

“I would be honored” to play Cleopatra in an upcoming new biopic,” she told reporters at the Salt premiere. “I haven’t done a historical epic of that nature and she’s always been fascinating to me because I feel like, as much of her story has been done big, it’s never been done accurately. But there’s a lot that would have to come together for that to work.”

With Angelina and James attached to the project, it is almost certain to do well in theaters. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we have a feeling it’ll will be a project we’ll continue to follow.

Sigourney Weaver Hints At Return In ‘Avatar’ Sequel

Even though her scientist character in James Cameron’s “Avatar” didn’t quite make it to the end credits, Sigourney Weaver is nonetheless hinting that she may yet return in the sequel.

Asked about “Avatar 2″, she told Contact News: “Well, I’m not at liberty to talk about it, but anything can happen in science fiction.”

In an interview with Collider.com, she all but confirmed it when asked whether she would return to the “Aliens” franchise currently going through a reboot.

“No, I don’t think so,” she said. “I think my “Alien” days are over. My “Avatar” days are beginning.”

Extended Avatar Reissue ‘Ultimate Box Set,’ Says Cameron

Director James Cameron calls the upcoming Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition “the ultimate box set of Avatar, with everything in it the fans could possibly want.”

In a press release detailing the bonus-packed reissue, which hits stores Nov. 16, Cameron said the set would include an extended cut that’s 16 minutes longer than the original version of the world’s highest-grossing movie, plus documentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, extra artwork and more than 45 minutes of deleted scenes — “everything worth putting into a special edition.”

The three-disc pile-up ($55 Blu-ray, $35 DVD) is perfectly built for Earth’s exhaustive scholars of all things Pandora, at least until a more-extensive edition comes out before Cameron’s planned Avatar sequels premiere.

Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition even features a family-friendly audio track that strips out the bad words that sci-fi supersoldiers regularly abuse in the movie. The rest of us should be sated by the alternate openings, extra screen time and feature-length documentary “Capturing Avatar.“ I see you, James Cameron. I see you.

4D Avatar movie with more exciting effects lands in Beijing

The 3D Avatar movie was a hit in China, and the film in its 4D version landed in Beijing again on Sept. 29.

On the evening of Sept. 28, the South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV held the opening ceremony of its first movie theater in Beijing. The movie theater, located near the Beijing Olympic center, officially opened for business on Sept. 29, and its first knockout product is the 4D Avatar film.

4D Avatar is even more exciting than the 3D version.

The 4D Avatar movie can create more exciting effects than the 3D version. When watching the 4D film, the audience will find that the seats can move, release aroma, eject water or rotate according to the film story.

For example, when the hero in the film flies a giant bird downwards, the audience will not only have the feeling when watching the 3D movie, they will also hear the wind in their ears, find that the seats are a bit shaky and feel that they seem to be falling as well.

A 4D Avatar ticket is 150 yuan.

The film Avatar hit Chinese screens on Jan. 4 2010 and was still showing in some Beijing cinemas until the end of the May 1 Holiday. The blockbuster movie took in nearly 1.4 billion yuan in China.
　
Now, the film Avatar has landed in Beijing again with a 4D version and has already started to show in the CGV movie theater near the Beijing Olympic center.

According to Xiang Zheng, the movie theater's marketing manager, a 4D Avatar ticket is 150 yuan and tickets for shows without the effects of wind or ejecting water are sold at the price of 120 yuan.

Xiang said that Avatar will be on show in the theater during all of October because it is the only theater that can allow audiences to perfectly experience the effects of 4D films.