A southeast Chinese mountain that reportedly "modeled" for computer generated scenes in James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar has been renamed in honor of the movie.

The new name of the Hunan province peak, formerly known as the South Pillar of Heaven, is the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, the China Daily said.

Officials say the mountain served as the inspiration for the floating island in the film, although Cameron has not confirmed this.

A local tourist official denied the idea behind the renaming of the Zhangjiajie mountain was to "blindly" follow foreign culture.

"We're only sending this message to the world: Zhangjiajie belongs to the world and is now known to global tourists," Song Zhiguang told the paper.

Avatar has already grossed some $80 million in China and reaped about $1.841 billion in worldwide receipts, rivaling the highest-grossing film of all time, Cameron's Titanic, according to Hollywood.com.

BEIJING, January 25 (RIA Novosti)