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 (left) -- 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.

The Cameron film for 20^th Century Fox -- which also produced the $1.8 billion grossing Titanic -- is expected to cost about $200 million and is slated for a summer 2009 release. Shyamalan's live-action film, which could cost $80-$100 million, may be out much earlier.

In December 2006, Cameron described Avatar in an interview to The Independent as "a futuristic tale set on a planet 200 years hence... an old-fashioned jungle adventure with an environmental conscience... [that] aspires to a mythic level of storytelling."

Shyamalan -- who has maintained deep silence for over six months following the abysmal failure of his Lady in the Water which could not reach even the $100 million worldwide, is to adapt -- direct and executive produce Avatar based on the popular Nickelodeon series, according to the trade publication Variety. This is the first time Shyamalan, who has made six films starting with Praying with Anger shot mostly in Chennai, will be working on outside material. Though he was in discussions a few years ago with Fox to direct the Booker Prize winning novel Life of Pi, he gave up the idea because of scheduling conflicts.

As for the title war, Variety quoted Paramount as saying it has registered the name with the Motion Picture Association of America. That statement was immediately contested by Fox, with a spokesperson for the studio asserting, "We own the movie title Avatar. There won't be another film called Avatar coming from anyplace."

Shyamalan, who took out his production house from Disney after making five films for the mouse house (4, including The Village, were hits), has inked a three film deal with Paramount, trade publications report. He left Disney for Warner on a bitter note when honchos there wanted him to revise the Lady script. Apparently, Paramount has more faith in him.

Photographs: Getty Images