James Cameron's "Avatar" Trailer

The trailer to James Cameron's long, long awaited upcoming movie "Avatar" is available online. This movie has to be one of the most hyped movies in a long time and features one of the biggest budgets.

The reason for the buzz is this script for the movie was written over 10 years ago (written in 1994) and was meant to push the limits of digital computer animation for Digital Domain, the partner for the movie. But unfortunately, at that time, the technology just wasn't capable. Read more to see why this movie was over a decade in the making and watch the newly released trailer.

The technology Cameron was looking for had to do with utilizing photo-realistic computer-generated characters. He would have a "virtual camera" that would allow him to "new virtual camera allows him to directly observe on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action; "It’s like a big, powerful game engine. If I want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale." Until recently, Cameron's vision just wasn't doable.

I think it'll be cool to see some of the new technologies used (maybe it'll set off some trends like the overused "bullet effect" from The Matrix), but the trailer doesn't really drop any jaws. "Avatar" is set to release December 18, 2009, bumped back from it's original May 2009 date.