Titanic director visits Kong's lair

James Cameron (left) and Peter Jackson.

The director of the highest-grossing movie of all time has visited Wellington on a trip believed to be connected to a new film project.

Titanic director James Cameron is in pre-production for a science fiction epic Avatar, scheduled for release in 2008, with mounting speculation that Weta Digital might provide the special effects, the Dominion Post reported today.

A spokesman for director Peter Jackson confirmed the visit but said last night it was "for nothing business-related with Peter".

The spokesman also dismissed as "pure coincidence" that Cameron and Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington were in the city about the same time late last month.

Washington and Jackson, director of special effects extravaganzas Lord of the Rings and King Kong, are to collaborate on a film project for which Jackson will provide the special effects.

Cameron's new project, which also has gone under the cover title Project 880, follows a paraplegic war veteran from Earth who is taken to another planet inhabited by a humanoid race at odds with Earth's citizens.

It will be his first full-length feature since Titanic grossed US$1.8 billion ($2.7 billion) in 1997.

- NZPA