A recent press release from Fathom Studios, the company behind the 2008 fantasy film Delgo, discusses possible legal action against Twentieth Century Fox over similarities it cites between Avatar and their film. In it, Fathom states, "From what we have seen, we are amazed by the visual similarities between the two films and we are reviewing what legal options may be available to us."

Film news website Movie Line posted an article depicting "The 7 Eeriest Parallels Between Avatar and Delgo," and, while some of the screenshots do bear a striking resemblance, many of them seem to be conventional sci-fi/fantasy images, such as one juxtaposition captioned "Both films feature alien warriors uncorking their fiercest battle cries" and another whose caption reads "Both films feature tough but emotional female leads." Each of these descriptions, as well as most of the others, could identify any number of films.

Granted, there are a handful of stronger similarities, such as the aliens' appearance, which Movie Line does not actually point out, and some (not I) might say that the quantity of similar screenshots makes up for their generic nature.

Either way, is it such a bad thing even if it is the case that Avatar intentionally uses certain elements of Delgo? Artists of every kind have built upon each others' work practically throughout the entire history of literature. Furthermore, while I am certainly no expert on law, it is hard to see what legal claims Fathom could make against 20th Century Fox, given that Avatar will certainly not in any way be taking revenues away from Fathom. If anything, these similarities will create more interest in Fathom's film. In fact, Movie Line notes that this threat may be nothing more than an attempt to build interest in Delgo, a movie that performed poorly and whose DVD was released just this month.

Sounds like a publicity stunt.