After spending nearly 10 years playing submarine captain instead of making movies, James Cameron, the big daddy of the action genre is ready to step back into the ring and show the punks like Michael Bay just how it's done.

Cameron has announced that he is ready to roll on his return to the director's chair, but not with the project animeheads were geeking out about. Battle Angel Alita has been put aside as Cameron lays out plans to film two projects seemlingly back-to-back. First up will be Project 880, of which Cameron says; "It's as classified as the Manhatten Project.".

This doesn't mean Cameron is making some political movie about the development of nuclear arms, but many believe he has secretly been planning a version of Avatar, the director's planned love story set against the backdrop of interplanetary war. Titanic in Spaaaaaaaaace!

Project 880 is apparently ready to roll for 20th Century Fox, and although casting hasn't been completed yet (no great surprise, look at Casino Royale) it is slated for a 2007 release. Battle Angel Alita, which is already in early pre-production, is slated for release in 2009.

Both movies will be shot in High Definition 3-D, the technology developed by Cameron, in part, whist working on his Aliens of the Deep documentary. He says, "We couldn't do one unless we do both, they use the same technology."

He has also said that neither film will be working to a fixed release date at this point; "We don't want to get jammed up like on Titanic, concensus has been we will serve no wine before it's time."

Which of course, by Cameron's loose working schedule, could mean we see neither film this side of 2010.