Avatar was filmed in 2009.
Avatar ( marketed as James Cameron 's Avatar ) is a 2009 American epic science fiction film directed , written , produced , and co-edited by James Cameron , and starring Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , Stephen Lang , Michelle Rodriguez , and Sigourney Weaver . Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron 's 1997 film Titanic , for a planned release in 1999 , but according to Cameron , the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film .