James Cameron first feature film since 1997's "Titanic". It is composed almost entirely of computer-generated animation, using a more-advanced version of the "performance capture" technique used by director Robert Zemeckis in "The Polar Express". James Cameron had written an 80-page scriptment for "Avatar" in 1995 and announced in 1996 that he would make the film after completing "Titanic". In December 2006, Cameron explained that the delay in producing the film since the 1990s had been to wait until the technology necessary to create his project was advanced enough, since at the time no studio would finance for the development of the visual
RMS Titanic sank and had an actual survivor as its star—the silent film actress Dorothy Gibson. The British film "A Night to Remember" (1958) is still widely regarded as the most historically accurate movie portrayal of the sinking. The most financially successful by far has been James Cameron's "Titanic" (1997), which became the highest-grossing film in history up to that time, as well as the winner of 11 Oscars at the 70th Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Cameron. The "Titanic" disaster was commemorated through a variety of memorials and monuments to the victims, erected in several English-speaking countries