Avatar is a 2009 epic 3-D science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The film was originally set for release on May 22, 2009, but was pushed back to allow more post-production time. It premiered in London on December 10, 2009 and was released in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2009, one day prior to its theatrical release in the United States. Released by 20th Century Fox, the film was co-produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, and focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of three fictional gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. On Pandora, human colonists and the sentient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in a war over the planet's resources and the latter's continued existence. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.
Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film. In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora. Cameron has stated that if Avatar is successful, he hopes to make two sequels to the film.
The film was released in traditional 2D and 3D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. The film is estimated to have cost over $300 million to produce, and another estimated $200 million for the distribution and other costs, thus totaling to about half a billion dollars. Avatar is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production. Opening to critical acclaim, it earned an estimated $27 million on its opening day and an estimated $73 million after two days.
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