James Cameron Takes 'Avatar' Projects to Manhattan Beach

James Cameron, famed director of Titanic and The Terminator, will be making his sequels to the blockbuster film Avatar in Manhattan Beach and not in Agoura Hills, as originally  in Patch, according to a story in Monday’s The Hollywood Reporter.

Cameron and 20th Century Fox have signed a lease for the studio and office space at the MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach and will use the facility for the motion-capture photography and high-tech production for two highly anticipated sequels to Avatar, the biggest blockbuster of all time, The Hollywood Reporter said.

“If it is true, we are very disappointed,” said Dan Kuperberg, Agoura’s mayor pro tem. “We thought this would be a great situation for the local economy and would have put us on the map as a presence in the movie industry.”

Cameron confirmed the deal for the new studio space at the 1600 Rosecrans Ave. property, formerly known as Manhattan Beach Studios, which is also likely to become the new home of Cameron’s company, Lightstorm Entertainment, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cameron’s representatives at Creative Artists Agency said that they could not “legally comment on the situation.”

The city hasn’t heard from Realty Bancorp Equities, owners of the proposed Agoura location at 29901 Agoura Rd., in many months, according to Mike Kamino, director of planning and community development.

"Though they were approved for [the initial stage of the process], they never submitted a final application," he said.

The 22-acre MBS Media Campus, owned by , is made up of 250,000 square feet of office space and includes 14 sound stages, production resources, equipment rentals, post-production facilities and screening rooms.

Recent productions that have used the facilities, include the feature film Iron Man 2 and the TV series CSI: Miami and Medium.