James Cameron has repeatedly avoided questions about his next project as he goes on his Avatar press tour, both because he's been finishing this movie down the line and, come on, you know he's going to take another huge chunk of time off before doing the next thing. But according to Production Weekly, he's already laying the groundwork for what's next.

They're reporting that Cameron is developing Shane Salerno's sci-fi action piece, "an 'event' film set in the future." Basically, Avatar Part Two. I don't think anyone expected Cameron to make another huge shift like he did going from True Lies to Titanic, but if this is true, it's confirmation that Cameron will either be in outer space or under the sea for a long, long time. Not that Cameron is likely to talk about this project at all for another five years or so.

Salreno most recently wrote the screenplay for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which doesn't exactly speak that well of his talents, but he also wrote Armageddon. Actually, make that two strikes. According to IMDB he's got a project in the works with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, so he's clearly a screenwriter on his way up. But what did he have for Cameron that the director would be willing to make someone else's script for the first time, uh, ever?