While 'Avatar' has been claimed to be an original story from director James Cameron, it is suggested that the story may be a rip-off of Poul Anderson's 1957 sci-fi short story.
- October 27, 2009
AceShowbiz -
"Avatar" apparently couldn't stay away from controversy. After "Delgo" filmmakers threatened to sue for stealing their story ideas earlier, the upcoming sci-fi movie has been slammed with a rip-off report. I09 has recently reported that there are too many similarities between this James Cameron's feature project and a 1957 novella by Poul Anderson entitled "Call Me Joe".
Claiming to have been tipped by its reader, the site pointed out on the similarities from the wheel-chair bound lead character to the artificial created body. "Like Avatar, Call Me Joe centers on a paraplegic - Ed Anglesey - who telepathically connects with an artificially created life form in order to explore a harsh planet (in this case, Jupiter)," it began explaining.
"Anglesey, like Avatar's Jake Sully, revels in the freedom and strength of his artificial created body," the site went on detailing, "battles predators on the surface of Jupiter, and gradually goes native as he spends more time connected to his artificial body."
Soon after the release of the film's teaser trailer in August, "Avatar" was hit with a potential lawsuit from Fathom Studios after many pointed out similarities of the movie with "Delgo". Of it, a spokesperson for the studio said, "From what we have seen, we are amazed by the visual similarities between the two films and we are reviewing what legal options may be available to us."
"Avatar" is a live action movie directed, co-produced and written also by the "Titanic" helmer James Cameron. It lines up Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Sigourney Weaver as botanist Dr. Grace Augustine, Stephen Lang as Marine Corps Colonel Quaritch, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, Michelle Rodriguez as retired Marine pilot Trudy Chacon, and many others.
This 20th Century Fox film follows an paraplegic ex-marine as he is thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival. It is set to hit the U.S. theaters on December 18.
