Coming to a 3-D cinema screen near you this December is the hugely anticipated release of Jim Cameron’s budget busting offering, Avatar. Movie buffs have reported that over $300 million has been spent on this film although that might just be a rumour. It’s well over 200 million anyway.

24 minutes of this epic sci-fi adventure were recently screened at the cinema expo in Amsterdam which led to many of Cameron’s fans waxing lyrical over the upcoming movie. Up until this screening the only sneak previews we had were the (played to death) trailer and various grainy clips leaked from the production team.

The movie has a whole host of stars including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang and Matt Gerald. CGI has also been used throughout to excellent effect. Even though you know it’s CGI these freakish looking creatures do seem very real. You soon forget that you’re watching computer-generated images.

Some have even gone so far as to call this the most important movie of all time which is probably taking things a little bit too far. What about Little Voice? I digress. It’s certainly looking like one of the most expensive movies of all time anyway but it’s bound to break box office records with all the buzz flying around the Internet.

The movie follows an ex-marine who ends up on an alien planet populated with these slightly scary looking blue creatures. Hostilities abound and the ex-Marine becomes an avatar. A human mind inside of the alien body. As the story develops he has increasing trouble deciding between who to trust and who to save.

If you’re into your science fiction this one is a must see! You can check out the trailer for the Avatar movie which is due to hit our screens on 18 December.