Variety is reporting that Paramount Pictures has picked up George Gallo’s crime/drama/comedy Middle Men for U.S. distribution. The film recently premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and stars Luke Wilson, James Caan, Giovanni Ribisi and Gabriel Macht. Check out the trailer below. Read the full story

20th Century Fox | USA | 162 min

It’s an emotional experience to talk about something you have put so much and energy and anticipation into. Will it live up to the hype? Was all this effort justified? With Avatar, director James Cameron doesn’t give you a second to think about it. The walls of the theater, the red exit sign, the faint glow of the lights lining the stairs, and now the 3D glasses resting on your head all seemingly evaporate after one is ripped out of the seat into a world of wonder and adventure. This goal of complete escapism is familiar to Cameron as we went back in history with Titanic, explored the extraterrestrial with Aliens, and got a glimpse of futuristic war with The Terminator. As we venture into the extraordinary world of Pandora, Cameron’s goal is realized to the fullest, setting a new benchmark for the epic blockbuster. Read the full story

With approach only two weeks (two weeks!) away from James Cameron’s return to narrative film making in the form of Avatar, promotion has started to pick up for the 3D sci fi epic. The latest batch comes in the form of two new clips that have cropped up online. The first features Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) discussing the Avatar program and the main objective of their mission with Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver). The clip comes from MSN (via LatinoReview) and can be viewed below:

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James Cameron’s Avatar is less than three weeks away from it’s Dec. 10th world premiere in London (press screenings are also being held the very same day here in the US, one of our writers just got their invite) and anticipation is building. We just got confirmation from Wall Street Journal that the runtime will be just about two and half hours. Producer Jon Landau says “around 30 minutes of the movie remain incomplete, with issues ranging from sound mixing to more serious aspects like visual effects.” Don’t worry, Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman Jim Gianopulos says the film is still on track for worldwide release. These reports slightly conflict with Market Saw’s info that WETA has wrapped production, but with the film finishing anytime now it’s no wonder there will be conflictions. THR also had a report highlighting the theater distribution and that Avatar could break the 10 week IMAX run record that The Dark Knight currently holds:

It is unclear exactly how many theaters AVATAR will open in, but Snyder estimates it will play in 3D in about 2,500 locations on about 3,500 screens. It will also be available in about 1,500 other locations in 2D, where it could play multiple screens in each theater complex. That would indicate an opening on a minimum of 5,500 screens and possibly significantly more, and that’s just in the U.S. It will also open in theaters in countries around the world.

Cameron has said that one of the constraints on his decision about running time was the Imax runs. AVATAR will open day-and-date in 3D in about 180 domestic Imax theaters (which is included in the 2,500 locations) and several dozen more internationally. In those theaters that are not yet converted to digital projection, they are limited to two of the giant platters that hold the film, which caps the length of a movie using the system at 170 minutes, which thus became the maximum length that Cameron was willing to let AVATAR run. In fact, he came in well under that with his final edit.

In other news Fox has released two brand new featurettes. Check them out below.
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The day has finally come. James Cameron has returned to science fiction with Avatar. After months of hearing exciting praise from tremendous filmmakers (Ridley Scott) and hearing the notable reaction from Comic Con, general audiences have been able to enter the world of Pandora. 20th Century Fox just unveiled sixteen minutes of 3D footage across the world in IMAX theaters. If you got the chance to check out the footage then you surely know that watching the trailer on a computer screen doesn’t do the film justice.

My hopes and expectations for Avatar were quite grounded while walking into theater. It was a fact that the footage would be undoubtedly impressive, but I wasn’t expecting anything to be mind blowing. That expectation was met. This may not be the revolutionary film that many were/are hoping for, but it is a huge step forward. There are many tremendous aspects such as the non-gimmicky use of 3D.  It’s not distracting and objects are not constantly being thrown at you. This is definitely the first film to fully use 3D to enhance and add detail to the film. Cameron also seems to have taken motion capture to a whole new level.

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