'Avatar' gets top billing at Seattle museum

SEATTLE – A Seattle music and popular culture museum is banking on fans of the Oscar-winning film "Avatar" to populate a new exhibit on how director James Cameron brought Pandora and its inhabitants to the big screen.

The exhibit at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame opens at noon Saturday after a Friday event featuring Cameron, some of the movie actors, and Richie Baneham, who won the Academy Award for best visual effects.

Museum associate curator Brooks Peck says the goal is to educate and entertain, but not go so deeply into the "Avatar" world that it resembles an amusement park.

It will be the first of its kind to showcase artwork and props from the blockbuster film.