The News Corp. film also had the second-best debut for a December release, Hollywood.com Box-Office said yesterday in an e-mailed statement Avatar, Cameron’s first movie since “Titanic,” ranks among the most expensive ever made with an estimated budget of $230 million, according to the Internet Movie Database.

The Avatar Movie from renowned director James Cameron is set to open in theaters worldwide this week. Cameron, creator of movie greats including Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, not to mention Titanic, the highest grossing film of all time, has not released a movie in 11 years.

Will James Cameron’s sci-fi romance be as full of eye candy as his "Terminator 2"? Deliver the box-office excitement of his epic Titanic Or fall to earth — taking nearly $240 million in estimated production costs with it?

Twelve years after “Titanic” became the largest grossing movie in history, the director unveiled his 3-D science fiction extravaganza, “Avatar.”

Hollywood director James Cameron wants to blow the audience away with adrenaline-pumping visual effects in the Rs 1,200 crore ($240million) sci-fi epic "Avatar", releasing on December 18. It's one of the costliest movies ever made.