Hey, I'm just reporting it as I've heard it.
From EmpireOnline, the website of the UK's biggest movie magazine, and a reliable source;
"
And what about all this title confusion? The nightmare scenario of little tots going in to see a kids movie only to be confronted with Cameron?s sci-fi epic ? or, even worse, discerning sci-fi fans being confronted with childish derring-do ? looms over both projects. But neither studio is giving an inch. Paramount say that they have registered the title of this project with the Motion Picture Association of America, while Fox (who are producing Cameron?s film) said, ?We own the movie title 'Avatar.' There won't be another film called 'Avatar' coming from anyplace." Oooh, dem?s fightin? words. It looks like someone?s going to have to back down, but it will probably be months or years before this p*ssing contest comes to an end, so keep watching this space."
You might be right, though; after all, slapping the show's subtitle on the Shyamalan movie would be an easy way to provide some disambiguation, so maybe Empire are just stirring a bit. Nevertheless, I'd say that both Fox and Paramount would be very keen to keep these two films as far apart at the box office as possible, because subtitle or no, having two completely different films called "Avatar" coming out at the same time would be a source of huge confusion. The large timescale involved in making Cameron's film might help in that respect.
In any case, it's still odd the way it's happened.
