Wellington, April 22 NZPA - Wellington-based Weta Digital is hard at work producing extra footage for Avatar, in time for a cinematic re-release in August, says director James Cameron,

In a interview with the Los Angeles Times, the director said Weta was working on an extra six minutes of footage for the re-release, which was targeted at Imax and 3-D theatres.

Avatar would have performed even better at the box-office had there been a greater availability of 3-D and Imax screens, Mr Cameron said.

The re-release would be timed so the film would not be competing with too many other 3-D and Imax films for screens, he said.

He also spoke about a sequel for Avatar which he said would feature ocean environments from the fictional planet Pandora.

Weta Digital is part of a number of companies in Wellington which includes Weta Workshop, Weta Productions, Weta Collectibles and Park Road Post Production that are co-owned by previous Oscar award-winning director Peter Jackson.

The team from Weta Digital won the best visual effects Oscar for their work on Avatar.

Avatar is the top grossing film of all time, with a box office of over $NZ3.8 billion.

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