James Cameron sued by ex-employee for allegedly stealing idea for 'Avatar'

James Cameron beat his own record of the highest-selling film Titanic with Avatar.

His accomplishments may or may not be hindered, however, as he is being sued by someone who used to work for his production company for allegedly stealing his idea for an environmentally-themed 3D film.

According to TMZ, Eric Ryder is suing Cameron, as he says Avatar is all too similar to his KRZ 2028, which is an "environmentally themed 3-D epic about a corporation's colonization and plundering of a distant moon's lush and wondrous natural setting."

Ryder said his KRZ 2028 had the idea of “self-contained robotic exterior suits which house a single human operator" ... just like in Avatar."

The film idea was pitched to Cameron’s production company in 1999, says the lawsuit, and it looked promising thanks to several serious meetings with top executives about developing it.

He said that by 2002, the project was axed because they told him, "No one would go see an environmentally themed feature length science fiction movie."

According to The New York Daily News, Cameron has said that he developed the idea back in the early ‘90s but his plans to go forward with it had to wait until technology caught up with his grand ideas.