After nearly two decades of gestation, superstar director James Cameron (Terminator, Titanic, The Abyss) is finally ready to drop the curtain on his sci-fi epic, Avatar.

Not to be confused with the Nickelodeon toon, Avatar is set to take viewers to a super realistic CGI world, where a paraplegic solider gets to walk again, via a cloned alien…his avatar.

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know of the project thus far.  The details released have been few and far between, and shy of a few stills, and a San Diego Comic Con screening of 15 minutes of footage, Cameron has kept radio silence about the flick.

This all changes on Friday.

This Friday, August 21st, dubbed “Avatar Day” will give audiences the first public taste of the film, with a three-pronged hype attack.

First, a 15 minute teaser screening will occur in IMAX 3D theaters nationwide, with tickets to be given away at AvatarMovie.com at Noon PST (about a half hour from now.)

Second, a non-3D trailer will be attached to screenings of the Quentin Tarantino opus Inglorious Basterds.

Finally, Apple.com will have downloadable trailers, in a variety of formats.

Will the hype pay off? Is Avatar the next revolutionary step in filmmaking? Is it a 200 Million Dollar experiment gone wrong?  We’ll know more come Friday, and know for sure when the full-length feature hits theaters on December 18th.

Original Post: Official Avatar Movie site | In Cinemas December 18th Worldwide.