JAMES CAMERON - FOX DELAYS CAMERON'S AVATAR

Twentieth Century Fox announced Tuesday that it will delay the release of James Cameron's 3-D Avatar to Dec. 18, 2009 in order to give the director additional time to devote to the titanic post-production work on the film. It had originally been scheduled for release over the Memorial Day holiday, a time that generally produces the biggest box-office returns of the year. Instead, the studio indicated, it plans to open Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian, starring Ben Stiller, on May 22, 2009. In addition, Fox has set Ice Age 3 in digital 3-D for the Independence Day weekend. Noting that the release of Avatar will come 12 years almost to the day of Cameron's Titanic, the most successful film of all time, Fox executive Hutch Parker told reporters Tuesday: "This is a win-win for us. ... Avatar goes to the Titanic date in December, which was obviously auspicious for Jim and us, and by the time of the release, there will be more worldwide 3-D screens available."

12/12/2007