With the expansion to ten Best Picture nominees, many thought that “anything has a shot now!” But that is, of course, horrifically incorrect seeing as how the still-five-nominees-Best Director category essentially reveals what the “real” Best Picture nominees are. Read the full story

Sigourney Weaver announced on the French show Cinebuzz TV that she has spoken with Avatar director James Cameron about how her character could return for the sequel. The video is difficult to decipher as Weaver, who is fluent in French, conducts half of the interview in French and a French translator speaks over her when the actress is speaking in English. However, the actress suggests that her character, Dr. Grace Augustine, could return as a spirit inhabiting the sacred tree featured in the film. Weaver, in her human form, was one of the best parts about Avatar and I’m not sure how well she would work as a disembodied voice. Also, the unavoidable comparisons to Grandmother Willow won’t help shed the ‘Pocahontas in space’ criticisms. Read the full story

The fourth collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio has proven to be their best. The duo have not only beat out 2002’s Gangs Of New York, 2004’s The Aviator, and 2006’s The Departed, but also their personal record. The Departed was previously Scorsese’s best with $26.8M, while Leo’s was $30M for Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. We can all forget about that as Shutter Island made $40.2M this weekend. This puts it in the Top 20 R-rated openings of all-time as well as in the Top 10 February openings of all-time. Read the full story

The release of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island marks Leonardo DiCaprio and the renowned director’s fourth film together after The Aviator, Gangs of New York, and The Departed. In honor of the duo, here are my top ten Director/Actor collaborations over the years of cinema. Read the full story

Avatar producer Jon Landau has revealed to MTV that director James Cameron is planning to write a prequel novel to the Avatar story. Read the full story

Happy Valentine’s Day! The ensemble romantic comedy came out on top in its namesake weekend grossing an estimated $52.4 million. Covering costs in its debut weekend, Valentine’s Day beat out two other prominent debuts handily en route to a stellar showing. Read the full story

According to Deadline Hollywood, Terminator 2: Judgment Day co-writer William Wisher has apparently written a 24 page script treatment for Terminator 5 and a 4 page outline for Terminator 6. The treatment is described by Deadline as:

Wisher’s 2-picture construct takes place in a post-apocalyptic battleground, and factors in an element of time travel that allows for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact beyond their single fateful meeting when he traveled back in time to protect her in the original film. Wisher has created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to John Connor’s bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be needed until the final film, which wouldn’t shoot until after he ends his term as California Governor. And who wouldn’t want to see Linda Hamilton back in aerobic top fitness form as Sarah Connor?

There are several new villains, and plenty of firepower. For instance, a swarm of “Night Crawlers,” 4 1/2-foot tall border sentries that are set like mines to spring up out of the ground and ambush rebel fighters with 10 MM pistols built into their wrists, and fingers and feet that are razor sharp. Also fresh off the Skynet assembly line are new shape-shifting cyborgs that can morph together in Transformers-like mode, and are more lethal than anything we’ve seen in previous Terminator installments.

It is unknown if Wisher is going to actually be following through with these treatments and turning them into the actual shooting script but it sure is a nice thought. It is also unknown if Terminator Salvation director McG is returning. Keep checking back with The Film Stage for more on this developing story.

Do you like Wisher’s treatment?

In its eighth week, Avatar finally fell from the top of the box office, relinquishing number one to the debut Dear John.  The highest grossing film of all-time (unadjusted) finished with $23.6 million, nearly $10 million short of of the wartime drama, which totaled $32.4 million this weekend (Recall that Lost In Space ended Titanic’s reign all those years ago). Read the full story

Do you want to experience 30 different special effects including “moving seats, smells of explosives, sprinkling water, laser lights and wind” while watching James Cameron’s Avatar? For a little over double the price of a normal ticket, you can in a few Korean theaters. Variety reports that CJ-CGV, the most popular theater chain in Korea started to prepare for the Avatar 4D “ride” last summer after having success with Journey to the Center of the Earth. With that Brendan Fraser starring movie adventure, there was only one theater equipped. Now they have four, to accommodate the increasingly sold out shows. Ten different films have been shown with these effects in the last year. Their next one will be Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. In a Korea-U.S. joint venture the Los Angeles visual effects outfit, Wonderworld Studio, plan to complete 10 additional 4D rides this year. Read the full story

I love sharing Annie Leibovitz’s photography work in Vanity Fair. We featured a similar showcase last year, now she is back with this year’s Oscar contenders. These include Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz to James Cameron and his Avatar creations. Check out some examples below, as well as a video highlighting the shoot. Read the full story