Cameron signs up for “Mars”

Titanic mastermind James Cameron, who just lost out to Steven Spielberg as the most powerful director in the world in a recent Hollywood poll, has finally announced his next project - and as you would expect from big Jim, it's another whopper. Cameron has inked an exclusive pact with 20th Century Fox Television and another first-look deal with Fox Broadcasting to produce, and possibly write, two exclusive television shows to be aired in early 2000. The self-proclaimed "King of the World" will produce a 13-part futuristic drama for Fox, his first foray into the world of television. Apparently, the mini-series will focus on a young, genetically engineered woman with incredible physical strength - the same kind of strong female character typically featured throughout Cameron's movies (Aliens, The Terminator, Titanic). In addition to this coup, Fox have inked another of Cameron's pet-projects about space travel to Mars. Adapted from Kim Stanley Robinson's acclaimed "Mars Trilogy" books, this second mini-series will be written and produced by Cameron. Fox, who backed Titanic when catastrophic production costs made it a running gag throughout Hollywood, now seem to have forged an excellent creative relationship with Cameron and look likely to keep the box office Midas for the rest of his professional career.