Since becoming the king of the world seven years ago with " Titanic," James Cameron has spent much of his time in the underwater world, making 3-D documentaries about his deep-sea explorations.

But the director is finally coming up for air and returning to science fiction with " Battle Angel," a three-dimensional movie set in the 26th century.

Cameron, who also directed " Aliens" and the first two " Terminator" movies, told The Associated Press he' s in preproduction now and expects to start shooting in May or June. The film will take two years to make and will include about 1,500 visual effects shots.

" It' s based on a series of graphic novels done by a Japanese artist called Kishiro," said the 50-year-old, whose " Titanic" won 11 Academy Awards including best picture and best director, and is the highest-grossing film of all time.

He wouldn' t discuss casting for the movie, but said, " It' s going to be a combination of live action and (computer graphics) but done photorealistically. There will be CG characters and live-action characters."

He plans to use updated versions of the three-dimensional cameras he used to shoot last year' s " Ghosts of the Abyss," his IMAX movie about diving to the real Titanic wreckage, and the upcoming " Aliens of the Deep," another IMAX documentary about underwater exploration for which he worked with NASA scientists.

" We were originally going to release it in ' 06. We decided to wait ' til ' 07 because we' re trying to ride the impending wave of digital cinema," Cameron said. " The digital cinema projectors are 3-D compatible based on the way that we want to do the 3-D display, and 35mm projectors are not. So we' ll release the film in both 2-D and 3-D theaters."

AP

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The anime version follows a " Hunter Warrior" and cyborg healer named Ido. Ido formerly lived in the floating land of Zalem, the paradise that hovers over the refuge heap of Scrap Iron City in which he now resides with his former lover, Chiren. In his travels as a bounty hunter (killing spine thieves in a world in which human nerve tissue has become the most precious commodity), Ido one day discovers and repairs the remnants of a cyborg whom he names Gally. Though possessing the body of a young woman, Gally embodies Ido' s most sophisticated and lethal cybernetic skill. In the first episode on the DVD, " Rusty Angel," Gally challenges Chiren' s own creation, Greweicia--a brain-eating gladiator--to a death match. In " Tears Sign" Gally discovers that her first love, Yugo, has put himself in the employ of the spine trader Vector so that he can earn his way, he thinks, to Zalem. Gally confronts her fellow bounty hunters to protect Yugo, only to watch him horribly wounded in a plot to capture her for Vector.