PRESS ASSOCIATION -- Disney has signed an exclusive deal to build attractions based on James Cameron's Avatar at its theme parks.

The first Avatar land, which begins construction in 2013 and is expected to open about three years later, is to be an immersive experience in a land spanning several acres. It will cost around 400 million US dollars.

Tom Staggs, Disney's chairman of parks and resorts, said the land would be similar in scope to Cars Land, a 12-acre area based on the town of Radiator Springs in Disney/Pixar's Cars movies.

Cars Land is to open next summer at California Adventure Park in Anaheim.

Cameron said the attractions based on the top-grossing film of all time would bring the lush, bioluminescent planet of Pandora to life and would include animatronics and 3-D and holographic technology.

"The scenes that people liked best were not the obvious things like the big battle scenes," he said. "It was the creatures, it was learning to fly, it was being in the forest at night.

"So here's an opportunity... to bring this world to life and get you to wander in it and see things you didn't see in either in the first film or the subsequent two."

Cameron is working on the second and third instalments of Avatar, to be released in December 2014 and December 2015.