James Cameron‘s Avatar will be released on December 18, 2009 and the first trailer is due to be released on Avatar Day August 21 (Read: ‘Avatar’ Day Details Emerge; Let The Chaos Begin!), so it is a little odd that only now we’re getting our first official image from the movie. We’ve seen plenty of concept art and some behind the scenes pictures, but nothing from the actual film, and nothing of these mysterious blue Na’vi that we’ve only seen in said concept art.

/Film was one of the lucky few who were sent this first image. It shows star Sam Worthington sitting in front of what looks like a tank full of liquid that’s holding one of the Na’vi aliens. We also get a better description of what the movie is about, including a better explanation of what the title of the movie means. We all know what avatars are — we all have them, whether they’re on our IM, E-mail, or Wii, we have a little avatar to represent us — but until recently, we didn’t know what that meant in regard to the movie.

Check out the image here at right and click for a larger, full view.