Is it just me, or is James Cameron starting to resemble Steve Jobs?

Cameron v/s Shyamalan for Avatar

James Cameron and M Night Shyamalan might soon be fighting it out over the title Avatar.

For just as Cameron — preparing to return to the big screen with a science fiction feature film ten years following 1997s global blockbuster Titanic — announced his film, Paramount Pictures, the new home of Shyamalan lost no time declaring its own Avatar. The fight is over the title, say trade publications, since the storylines are vastly different.

Despite the title, Cameron’s Avatar has nothing to do with India. For that matter, neither does Shyamalan’s, but at least it’s expected to have, if he follows the Nickelodeon series for kids that are the basis of the film, some Asian influence by way of martial arts and spiritual elements.

Here’s what will happen: Shyamalan’s film will need to be titled AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, and all will be right. Both sides get the publicity they want out of this little “squabble.”

If anyone has the chance to lose here, it’s Cameron. His title is newer. He can change it. I don’t see Nickelodeon changing the name of ITS property to avoid confusion between a kiddie movie and a more mature piece of sci-fi/fantasy.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 13th, 2007 at 8:56 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.