Avatar, also known as James Cameron’s Avatar, is an American 3-D science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron, and was released on December 16, 2009[1] by 20th Century Fox. The film is co-produced by Lightstorm Entertainment, and focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized satellite 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.[5] The term "Avatar" comes from the Sanskrit word Avatara, which means "descent" or "form of oneself".
The film will be released in 2D and 3D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. The film 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.[6] The film has been rated PG-13 by the United States MPAA for "intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking".[7]