James Cameron & Cirque du Soleil Teaming Up For Avatar Arena-Touring Show

James Cameron and Cirque du Soleil have announced a new partnership to develop an arena-touring show based on Cameron's film, Avatar. The show is expected to debut with a world tour in 2015. The announcement comes out of Montreal's C2MTL– Commerce + Creativity Conference for international business. The production will be developed by Cirque du Soleil in association with Cameron's and Jon Landau's Lightstorm Entertainment. The show is expected to begin touring before the release of the first of three planned sequels to Avatar. Twentieth Century Fox, who financed and distributed Avatar, is also a partner in this live-show venture. "Our relationship with Jim Cameron began with my visit at his Avatar cutting room", explained Daniel Lamarre, President and CEO of Cirque du Soleil. "I am thrilled that almost 5 years later, Cirque du Soleil will be able to explore the very inspirational Avatar realm for the live stage. This will mark our second creative project with Jim and I believe it will be as stimulating for both our creative forces." "Over the years, I have discovered the extraordinary talents and imaginations of both the artists and the creative forces behind Cirque du Soleil," said James Cameron. "I know we share the common goal of bringing audiences to another level of entertainment experiences. I look forward to doing just that on this project." "Audiences around the globe have embraced Avatar and we believe they will want to experience this amazing world in an entirely new way," commented Kathy Franklin, President of Franchise Development at Lightstorm Entertainment. "Avatar remains a phenomenon that continues to inspire people around the globe, and combining it with the live event ingenuity of Cirque de Soleil is a perfect synthesis of imagination and talent," said Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO, 20th Century Fox. "As Jim Cameron prepares to take us to even greater heights with three new AVATAR films, we're thrilled with the innovative experience he's developing in this groundbreaking agreement with Cirque de Soleil." The creative team for the Avatar live show will be announced at a later date.