That left plenty of time to design an Avatar video game that also pushes technology's limits.
About three years ago, Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, began working with developer Ubisoft, known for its Tom Clancy games. Designers were granted access to the images, animations and effects that made up Pandora and its 9-foot-tall blue-skinned inhabitants, the Na'vi.
"I was tired of games that got tacked on after the fact," Cameron says. "Movie-title licensed games tend to be viewed rather dimly by the gaming community because they're usually bashed out in short order and not well thought out."
The game, Cameron says, allows you to play either as a human soldier or an Na'vi fighter. "If you have a game where you're shooting zombies, you don't get to play the zombie. That interested me – to change perspectives."
Another game-changer: Cameron wanted to enlist Ubisoft in his campaign to bring the 3-D experience beyond theaters and into the home. He asked programmers "to think about doing (the game) in stereoscopic 3-D. I told them it would be a landmark. You can drive a stake in the ground and say, 'That's where games changed.'
"Three months later, they called and told me they could do it. It's exciting."
Although Avatar the film doesn't begin showing on 3-D-capable and standard screens until Dec. 18, the game, just out (rated T for ages 13-up, $50-$60), can be played in 3-D on systems such as Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as on PCs. (To play in 3-D, you need a 3-D-ready computer display or HDTV and 3-D glasses, not included with the game.)
Cameron's strategy of using the movie and game to advance 3-D "is a pretty pivotal event," says Chris Chinnock, president of display research firm Insight Media. "It can move the industry forward, or set it back."
Films in 3-D are already on a roll. Releases this year such as Disney-Pixar's Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters vs. Aliens and A Christmas Carol have sold about $1.5 billion worldwide in tickets to 3-D showings – about 60% of film grosses come from 3-D when it's available, according to Exhibitor Relations.
But only a smattering of 3-D games are out for consoles, including G-Force and Toy Story Mania, two Disney titles using traditional red-and-blue glasses. PC games have far more 3-D offerings, most using higher-quality glasses with LCD lenses and requiring compatible displays.
In most cases, a 3-D version is created after developers finish the basic game, with the depth information from the graphics used to generate 3-D effects. Avatar, however, was designed as a 3-D game from the start.
"It was truly a collaboration," says the film's producer, Jon Landau.
The game is set two years before the events in the film. You play as a specialist brought in to help find a sacred site on Pandora that could further the occupying RDA Corporation's efforts to mine resources needed on Earth.
"Early in the game, you have a choice: Do you want to continue helping the RDA or help the Na'vi?" says script writer Kevin Shortt. "It gives people a nice window into the world they're going to get in the movie."
You don't have to engage the 3-D features of the game – it plays normally on any TV and game system – but it adds to the immersiveness, he says. "We are fighting to bring the player into a world, and 3-D does that so much more," Shortt says.
Even though the 3-D Avatar "looks good," Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TVdoesn't think it will "usher in a 3-D revolution for gaming. It's a novelty."
Either way, don't expect Cameron to spend much time playing. He says he finds video games "too addictive. I have too much to do. If I have six movies left in me and was allowed to play games all I wanted, I'd probably only have time to make five."
