Avatar (also marketed as James Cameron's Avatar ) is a 2009 American [7] [8] 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 . The film is set in the mid-22nd century when humans are colonizing Pandora , a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable mineral unobtanium . [9] [10] [11] The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi – a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora. [12] Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. [13] [14] Filming was supposed to