James Cameron directed the 2009 science-fiction film Avatar, whose fictional moon is called Pandora. Cameron also wrote the screenplay and produced the film, which became one of the most commercially successful movies in cinema history.
Avatar is set in the twenty-second century on Pandora, a lush moon orbiting the fictional gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri system. The human visitors seek valuable resources, while the Na’vi, Pandora’s indigenous inhabitants, defend their home. The setting’s name deliberately echoes classical mythology, but the film’s ecological and colonial themes are its own fictional construction.
Pandora is sometimes incorrectly described as a planet. In Avatar, it is a moon, just as Pandora is also the name of a real moon of Saturn. The film’s production became notable for performance-capture work, stereoscopic 3D presentation, and extensive digital world-building. Its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, was released in 2022.