Production Weekly reports via Twitter that Cameron is developing a science fiction "event" film set in the future and scripted by Shane Salerno, who worked on the screenplays for Armageddon, Ghost Rider, and both Alien vs. Predator movies. Production Weekly hasn't elaborated further, but speculation is that the script is Doomsday Protocol, which Salerno sold to Fox last year. The Hollywood Reporter has the synopsis:

Plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is known to be an epic science fiction adventure in the vein of "The Seven Samurai" involving a group of aliens and humans with various abilities who are brought together to save Earth.

So what's it ultimately going to be for Cameron — space age samurai, post-apocalyptic cyborg, or another swing through the Avatar universe?

James Cameron's next film may be a sci-fi samurai epic [SCI FI Wire]

Top image by Daniel Conway.

The script, currently entitled Doomsday Protocol, was written by Shane Salerno, a man known for his slick but essentially shitty big budget movies - Sam Jackson's Shaft remake was another of his scripts - but not his sterling work as music supervisor on NBC's UC: Undercover, is being pitched as "an epic science fiction adventure in the vein of 'The Seven Samurai'" that sees aliens and humans with special abilities coming together to save the Earth, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

While we hope that the movie is better than Roger Corman's "homage" to Kurosawa's classic, Battle Beyond The Stars (the only movie to bring together Corman, James Cameron and re-used sound effects from the original Battlestar Galactica), it's unlikely to beat the awesome 2004 steampunk anime adaptation Samurai 7.

Fox picks up 'Doomsday Protocol' [Hollywood Reporter]