James Cameron needs to return to space, and so when I heard about Avatar I was very excited, and I didn't even know anything about the story. Problem is we'll have to try and keep that excitement going for two to three years, if not more, for he says that currently a summer 2009 release is being eyed.

However, I wouldn't even think of that as anymore than a guess, after all he's only just talking about playing with new technologies, and some of the things he says in an interview with the Independent through CHUD says delays galore.

"Avatar is a very ambitious sci-fi movie...I'll spend many months completing the special effects...and it will not be released until the summer of 2009...

...The film requires me to create an entirely new alien culture and language, and for that I want 'photo-real' CGI characters. Sophisticated enough 'performance-capture' animation technology is only coming on stream now. I've spent the last 14 months doing performance-capture work...

...We've set up a studio, and last week [Lord of the Rings director] Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were here trying out the technology..."

That's a fair bit away, and judging from those comments we're going to wait even longer than that. Damn. Part of me wishes he hadn't spent so long underwater, there's also a wish that he had directed Terminator 3, but there's no time for regrets.