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‘Avatar’ Sequels Upped To Three; Fox, James Cameron Set Trio Of Writers To Spearhead

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday August 1, 2013 @ 11:04am PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar Sequels, Big Deals Film, James Cameron, Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, Shane Salerno
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have upped the number of Avatar sequels they’ll make from two to three, and they’ve set three high-level screenwriters (one is a team) to get the movies in shape to be shot simultaneously. That is easily a recipe for the most expensive set of pictures ever made, and an ambitious production plan not seen since New Line and Peter Jackson made three The Lord Of The Rings films back to back. Back then, Jackson was coming off The Frighteners. Fox at least has the confidence of knowing Cameron’s last two films are the biggest-grossing pictures in movie history, with Avatar at the top by a wide margin. It’s still a gutsy play; it is not unimaginable that three Avatar installments could cost close to $1 billion. The original grossed $2.8 billion.

Cameron has set War Of The Worlds scribe Josh Friedman to write one film; Rise Of Planet Of The Apes‘ Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver to write another; with the third to be written by Shane Salerno, who wrote and directed the upcoming documentary Salinger and who previously worked with Cameron on a remake of Fantastic Voyage at Fox. The writers will collaborate with Cameron separately and co-write three separate movies with him.

The three pictures will be filmed simultaneously with production beginning next year. The release of the first sequel will be in December 2016, with the second to follow in December 2017, and the third a year later. Avatar 2, 3, and 4 will be produced by Cameron and Jon Landau through their Lightstorm Entertainment banner. Lightstorm will work once again with Joe Letteri and his team at WETA Digital on the three films.

The choice of writers came after Cameron and Landau spent weeks meeting with A-list screenwriters vying for the job. They’ve been working with Cameron from his Manhattan Beach studio. READ MORE »

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Fox & James Cameron Slapped With $50M ‘Avatar’ Copyright Suit By Album Cover Artist

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday June 28, 2013 @ 7:24pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar, copyright infringement, James Cameron

The highest-grossing movie of all time is again the subject of a copyright legal battle. Artist William Roger Dean filed a complaint against James Cameron and 20th Century Fox on Thursday seeking more than $50 million in damages over Avatar. Unlike past Avatar plaintiffs, Dean has an established pedigree. He is a well known artist who has created album covers for such big-selling bands as Yes and Asia and exhibited his fantasy landscapes and other work around the world. In fact, it is the ubiquity of his work, as well as a movie proposal based on it that he took at the 2005 Cannes Film Fest, that has Dean convinced the look of the 2009 3D sci-fi film were derived from his images. “The similarities of each such work are substantial, continuing, and direct so as to rule out any accidental copying or similarity in scenes common to the genre. The infringing portions of Avatar are so similar to Plaintiffs Works that Defendants and others employed in the preparation of the film must have had access to the Plaintiffs Works,” says his 17-page complaint (read it here) filed June 27 in U.S District Court in New York. The filing cites numerous specific examples from the world of Pandora to the foliage and creatures that populate it where Dean sees his own work. Along with copyright infringement, Dean also is claiming contributory infringement, breach of implied contact, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.

Related: James Cameron & Fox Denied Dismissal Of Latest ‘Avatar’ Suit

Read More »

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Former Digital Domain CEO & Auditors Sued For Fraud By Investors

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday May 21, 2013 @ 5:21pm PDTTags: Bankruptcy, Big Deals Film, Digital Domain Media Group, James Cameron

The fallout from Digital Domain Media Group’s bankruptcy continues with investors in the troubled special effects and 3D conversion firm taking the former CEO, the company’s auditors and other executives to court for fraud. Having lost millions in the James Cameron-founded company just before it went under last September, Iroquois Master Fund and Kingsbrook Opportunities Master Fund late last week filed a six claim complaint (read it here) against John Textor, his wife Deborah, various DDMG directors and auditors SingerLewak LLP. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages as well as interest, legal fees and “such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.” The complaint in New York State Supreme Court alleges common law fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, negligent misrepresentations and omissions, negligence, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and civil conspiracy. Read More »

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‘Avatar’ Sequels To Include Underwater Performance Capture: NAB

By JEN YAMATO | Sunday April 7, 2013 @ 5:07pm PDTTags: Avatar 2, James Cameron, NAB Show

Producer Jon Landau revealed today at the 2013 NAB Technology Summit on Cinema that Jim Cameron “will do performance capture in water” on the sequels to his 2009 Fox megahit. “We want to take advantage of the technologies brilliant people are putting out to make the next two movies even more emotionally engaging and visually tantalizing, and to really wrap up the story arc of our two main characters”, Landau said in his keynote chat today. The filmmakers are currently exploring technologies to allow for underwater capture of actors’ performances “because we can simulate it visually but can’t simulate it experientially for them”.
Read More »

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James Cameron Donates Deepsea Challenger Sub To Help Advance Ocean Sciences

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday March 26, 2013 @ 3:30am PDTTags: James Cameron

A year ago this week, James Cameron was seven miles beneath the ocean’s surface for the Deepsea Challenge. The unique research and exploration project took him to the bottom of the Challenger Deep — the … Read More »

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James Cameron & Fox Denied Dismissal Of Latest ‘Avatar’ Lawsuit

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday March 18, 2013 @ 11:31am PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar, James Cameron

James Cameron and Fox today did not get their request for a total dismissal of Bryant Moore’s $2.5 billion lawsuit claiming that Avatar was stolen from his scripts. The defendants did get some legal traction when federal Judge Roger W. Titus granted a motion Monday to dismiss the breach of implied contract claim in Moore’s 2011 suit. However, he did not dismiss Moore’s copyright claims in the hearing in the Southern District of Maryland over the 3D blockbuster. The ruling means the jury trial-requested case will go forward, with discovery to occur next during the next four to six months.

Moore sued the director, his Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation on December 19, 2011. The writer claimed that copies of his Aquatica and Descendants: The Pollination screenplays made their way to Cameron in 1993 and 1994 through Lightstorm production assistants. Though Moore says he was eventually told the company did not accept the submissions, he found “striking substantial similarities” between his scripts and 2009’s Avatar. Cameron has said in court filings that he had Avatar mapped out in a detailed scriptment before any such materials by Moore were submitted to his company. Moore is seeking $1.5 billion in profits and another $1 billion in punitive damages. Read More »

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James Cameron Prevails In ‘Avatar’ Lawsuit

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday February 5, 2013 @ 9:27am PSTTags: Avatar, James Cameron

“Clear, undisputed evidence” reveals director James Cameron came up with the concept for Avatar, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in Los Angeles. Late last week, Judge Margaret Murrow granted (read the … Read More »

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Showtime Orders Climate Change Docu Series Produced By James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub And Arnold Schwarzenegger

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday December 3, 2012 @ 10:53am PSTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Deals TV, James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub, Showtime
Nellie Andreeva

Showtime has ordered Years Of Living Dangerously, a documentary series which explores the human impact of climate change. It is executive produced by James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with Emmy-winning 60 Minutes producers Joel … Read More »

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James Cameron To Direct ‘The Informationist’ For Fox After ‘Avatar’ Films

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 23, 2012 @ 12:09pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar, Big Deals Film, James Cameron, Lightstorm Entertainment
Mike Fleming

James Cameron Informationist MovieJames Cameron‘s company Lightstorm Entertainment has acquired film rights to the 2011 novel The Informationist by Taylor Stevens to put on Cameron’s to-direct list after he finishes the second and third Avatar sequels. Those are currently in preproduction. 20th Century Fox will release the film, which will be produced by Cameron and his Lightstorm partner Jon Landau, who will soon go out to writers for the adaptation.

The Informationist, which came out in October 2011, centers on Vanessa “Michael” Munroe, an information specialist whose work is in-demand by  corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise. When a Texas oil billionaire hires her to find his daughter who vanished in Africa four years ago, Munroe finds herself back in the lands of her childhood. Betrayed, cut off from civilization and left for dead, she must come face-to-face with the past that she’s tried for so long to forget. A second Munroe novel, The Innocent, was published this year. Read More »

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MOGUL MEMES: Ron Meyer Makes First Public Statement About Exit Rumors

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday September 24, 2012 @ 8:30pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Deals Film, Comcast, James Cameron, NBCUniversal, Ron Meyer, USC

Ron Meyer turns 68 on Tuesday. So on the eve of his birthday, he finally made a public statement about the August rumors that he would be involuntarily or voluntarily exiting his job at Universal Studios soon. On a panel at the inaugural symposium of the … Read More »

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James Cameron No-Show For Schwarzenegger

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday September 24, 2012 @ 4:39pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Cameron, Ron Meyer, USC

Arnold Schwarzenegger held his inaugural symposium of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy this afternoon. James Cameron was scheduled to attend but was a no-show – described as “on a creative roll” working on the script for the Avatar sequel – despite prior billing and decades working with Arnold on movies like The Terminator and True Lies. Universal Studios President/COO Ron Meyer joined the former Governor as well as Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chair Rob Friedman, Imagine Entertainment chairman Brian Grazer, and American Idol mentor/Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine on “The Power Of People and Innovation — Media/Hollywood Leader’s Perspectives” panel. Read More »

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James Cameron, Fox Get ‘Avatar’ Copyright Suit Dismissed

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday September 17, 2012 @ 5:49pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar, Hollywood lawsuit, James Cameron

The most successful movie of all time is not a rip off of a screenwriter’s unmade film and novel, the U.S. District court ruled today. “Bats And Butterflies is a children’s story with a simple protagonist,” said Judge Manuel Real, Monday in Los Angeles. “Avatar is a more complex story about a conflicted protagonist.” The judge went on to add that the two were “not substantially similar” to each other. Back in the beginning of the year, Elijah Schkeiban filed a copyright infringement suit against James Cameron, 20th Century Fox, the director’s Lightstorm Entertainment and production company Dune Entertainment claiming that 2009’s Avatar was based on his novel and subsequent film script. The two sides have been chipping away at it legally ever since with the defendants getting successfully getting two motions to dismiss and Schkeiban amending his complaint. Read More »

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James Cameron, Ron Meyer, Rob Friedman Part Of Schwarzenegger Think Tank Debut

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Monday September 17, 2012 @ 12:51pm PDTTags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Big Deals Film, Brian Grazer, James Cameron, Rob Friedman, Ron Meyer

The former California governor has invited a few friends to the first symposium of his new USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, which the university announced last month. An invite went out today for a September 24 event announcing that James Cameron, Universal Studios president and COO Ron Meyer, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chair Rob Friedman, Imagine Entertainment chairman Brian Grazer and Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine will participate. Cameron, who helmed Schwarzenegger in the two Terminator films he starred in as well as in True Lies, will join Meyer, Friedman, Grazer, and Iovine on an afternoon panel titled “The Power Of People and Innovation — Media/Hollywood Leader’s Perspectives”. Read More »

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Digital Domain Shares In Freefall As CEO Quits Amid Fight With Creditors

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Financial Editor | Friday September 7, 2012 @ 12:08pm PDTTags: Digital Domain Media Group, James Cameron

Weird things are happening at the James Cameron-founded company that’s responsible for special effects and 3D conversion on many Hollywood productions including Lionsgate’s Ender’s Game. Digital Domain‘s stock is down nearly 34% today to a piddling 65 cents a share and it announced in an SEC filing that CEO and chairman John Textor resigned “effective immediately” with no exit agreement or arrangement. Textor’s Wyndcrest Holdings led an investor group that bought Digital Domain in 2006. He told the board that he left because he’s “in profound disagreement” with the company’s decision to close its animation and visual effects studio in Port St. Lucie, Fla. “Our incredibly talented artists and filmmakers were building something truly special in Port St. Lucie, not just our favorite first film, The Legend Of Tembo, but also our first home, Tradition Studios.” By leaving he says he should have “greater flexibility to independently consider other strategic alternatives for the Company, the Port St. Lucie studio and the people affected.” Digital Domain says the cutbacks in Florida are part of “a strategic realignment that will enable it to focus its resources on its core business.” Studios in California and Vancouuver “intend to operate without interruption.” The board gave COO Ed Ulbrich the additional title of CEO of Digitial Domain Productions while Michael Katzenstein runs day-to-day operations. Katzenstein is is a senior managing director of FTI Consulting, and on August 29 was also named Digital Domain’s interim COO. Read More »

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Hot Clip: Keanu Reeves, James Cameron Discuss Babies And 3D In ‘Side By Side’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 20, 2012 @ 3:17pm PDTTags: James Cameron, Keanu Reeves, Side By Side
Mike Fleming

Here is a clip from a pretty heady discussion between Keanu Reeves and James Cameron on the science behind 3D. It’s from Side By Side, a documentary narrated and produced by Reeves of the past and the … Read More »

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James Cameron Forms 3D Technology Joint-Venture With Chinese Partners

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday August 8, 2012 @ 4:02am PDTTags: China, James Cameron, Titanic 3D

James Cameron is the latest to jump on the China bandwagon announcing a joint-venture to offer 3D camera technology to Chinese filmmakers. The news comes as Cameron is in China attending a 3D film forum at Tianjin Polytechnic University. … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: James Cameron’s ‘Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday June 29, 2012 @ 10:16am PDTTags: Andrew Adamson, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away, James Cameron, Paramount Pictures

Paramount‘s Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away has the scope of the group’s live performances covered thanks to the tech contributions of executive producer James Cameron and Vince Pace. Andrew Adamson directed the hybrid concert pic, which is set for a December 21 release.

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National Geographic Orders Special About James Cameron’s Mariana Trench Dive

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 24, 2012 @ 9:00am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, James Cameron, National Geographic
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: At its upfront presentation last month, National Geographic unveiled Deepsea Challenge, a 3-D feature documentary/special chronicling director James Cameron recent one-man dive last month to the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep, the ocean’s deepest point. Now the network has added a half-hour interview special with Cameron, James Cameron: Voyage to the Bottom of the Earth, which will premiere this Sunday at 9 PM. In the special, which incorporates CGI animation to illustrate the scale of the trip, Cameron recalls the highs and lows of the more than seven-year design phase of the spherical sub (called Deepsea Challenger). Read More »

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Is James Cameron Investing In Asteroid Mining Project?

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 18, 2012 @ 11:02pm PDTTags: James Cameron

Director James Cameron, who just made history piloting a submersible 7 miles below the surface of the Pacific in the Mariana Trench, appears to have his sights on the opposite direction with investors who include Google cofounder Larry … Read More »

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