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
Titanic (1997 film) thing". It was "not because I particularly wanted to make the movie," Cameron said. "I wanted to dive to the shipwreck." Cameron wrote a scriptment for a "Titanic" film, met with 20th Century Fox executives including Peter Chernin, and pitched it as "Romeo and Juliet on the "Titanic"". Cameron stated, "They were like, 'Oooooohkaaaaaay – a three-hour romantic epic? Sure, that's just what we want. Is there a little bit of "Terminator" in that? Any Harrier jets, shoot-outs, or car chases?' I said, 'No, no, no. It's not like that. The studio was dubious about the idea's commercial prospects, but,