Avatar is a 2009 epic science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. It features an ensemble cast including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver.[6] Distributed by 20th Century Fox,[a][b] it is the first installment in the Avatar film series. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable unobtanium,[c] a room-temperature superconductor mineral. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na’vi, a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The title of the film refers to a genetically engineered Na’vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora called an “Avatar”.[10]
Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film.[11][12] Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999;[13] however, according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film.[14] Work on the fictional constructed language of the Na’vi began in 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006.[15
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