New Updates @ The Awards Circuit...

• New Film Reviews (Kick-Ass, Breaking Upwards, Defendor, Clash of the Titans, The Secret of Their Eyes)
• Under the Circuit - Brian de Palma (Has the iconic filmmaker earned his Oscar nomination yet or will his ship never come?)
• What was the problem with "Avatar?" (In celebration of its DVD/Blu-Ray release on Earth Day)
• The Deer Hunter - Most Overrated Film of the 1970's? (Is Christopher Walken's Oscar winning performance film not worth all the hype?)
• Also, make sure to check the ARCHIVE for all the past reads!

Comment. Talk amongst yourselves.

In case anyone doubted 'Avatar' would prove to be a hit on DVD and Blu-Ray...

...this record breaking evidence from the Los Angeles Times proves it without a shadow of a doubt:

James Cameron didn't need 3-D to break this record.

Just four days after debuting on store shelves, "Avatar" has sold 2.7 million Blu-ray discs to consumers in the U.S. and Canada, according to 20th Century Fox -- more Blu-rays than any previous movie has sold. The previous record holder, "The Dark Knight," has sold 2.5 million Blu-rays since its debut 16 months ago.

Fox also sold 4 million standard definition DVDs. The combined total makes "Avatar" the biggest DVD launch of the year, breaking a previous mark of 4 million Blu-ray and DVDs combined set by "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" on its first weekend in March.

"Avatar" also debuted Thursday in France, where it sold a combined 400,000 units on DVD and Blu-ray, the biggest-ever launch in the country. It is at the top of the charts in Germany as well, although specific sales figures weren't immediately available. It goes on sale in Great Britain on Monday.

The huge debut for "Avatar" on home video dispels concerns that consumers wouldn't want to see it on a 2-D home television after most watched it in theaters in 3-D. Eighty-three percent of "Avatar's" $746.4-million domestic gross has come from theaters with 3-D screens. More than 70% of its $1.975-billion international gross has come from 3-D.

The news comes as Fox recently signed deals with kiosk renter Redbox and DVD-by-mail firm Netflix that keep "Avatar" and all of the studio's future releases off the services until 28 days after they go on sale.

"Avatar" provides a much needed shot in the arm to Hollywood's home entertainment business, which saw its revenue fall 8% in the first three months of the year and 5% last year.

-I had no doubt it would be popular on home video, but this is impressive...thoughts?

The Visual Effects Society had their awards last night...

...and here are the winners:

Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
“2012”
“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Star Trek”
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”

Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
“Angels & Demons”
“The Box”
“Invictus”
“The Road”
“Sherlock Holmes”

Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
“9”
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
“Up”

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
“2012” (“Escape From L.A.”)
“Avatar” (“Quarich’s Escape”)
“Avatar” (“Neytiri Drinking”)
“Knowing” (“Plane Crash”)
“Terminator Salvation” (“VLA Escape”)

Animated Character in a Live-Action Feature Motion Picture
“Avatar” (Neytiri)
“District 9” (Christopher Johnson)
“G-Force” (Bucky)
“Watchmen” (Doctor Manhattan)

Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
“Coraline” (Coraline)
“Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (Buck)
“Monsters vs. Aliens” (B.O.B.)
“Up” (Carl, “No Dad Scene”)

Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”
“Coraline”
“Monsters vs. Aliens”
“Up”

Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
“Avatar” (“Pandora”)
“Franklyn” (“Meanwhile City Scapes”)
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“Star Trek”

Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture
“Avatar” (”Samson” / “Home Tree” / “Floating Mountains” / “Ampsuit”)
“Coraline”
“Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” (”National Air and Space Museum Escape”)
“Terminator Salvation”

Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture
“2012” (“Los Angeles Destruction”)
“Avatar” (“Floating Mountains”)
“Avatar” (“Jungle” / “Biolume”)
“Avatar” (“Willow Glade”)

Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
“Avatar”
“Avatar” (“End Battle”)
“District 9”
“Sherlock Holmes” (“Wharf Explosion Sequence”)

-Thoughts?

The American Society of Cinematographers honors The White Ribbon with its top prize!

This is definitely a surprise, as the race was thought to have been between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, though to be fair The White Ribbon has a lot of supporters. The Cinematography category at the Oscars might have just gotten more interesting...
-Thoughts?

Avatar & Babies

via AwardsDaily

Avatar... with Babies from The Midnight Show

Entertainment Weekly seems to think 'Avatar' is the frontrunner...

...but more importantly, do you?

Avatar has officially sunk the unsinkable ship...

...to become the highest grossing film of all time. Titanic has $600,788,188 as its domestic gross, but Avatar has $601,141,551 and counting! It did it in just 47 days, which is stunning. It's also well ahead of Titanic in terms of worldwide gross, so the king of the world now has another crown to wear. No matter what you think of Cameron or the film, this is quite the achievement.
-Congrats to all involved!

Not that Avatar needed another reason to be profitable, but it almost starred either Matt Damon or Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role...

...according to this article from Cinemablend. While I highly doubt it would have made much of a difference, it would have been interesting to have seen them in the role of Jake Sully, at least to me.
-Thoughts on how either of these actors would have compared to Sam Worthington?

Apparently there will be a sequel to Avatar...

...according to what James Cameron said at a recent Q and A. The story originates here. There's potential for an interesting franchise no doubt, but I'd like to see a bit more story to go along with the wonderful visuals.
-Thoughts on a potential trilogy of Avatar films?

Has the success of Avatar meant doom for a Darren Aronofsky helmed Robocop?

Perhaps, if this story is to be believed. Apparently the powers that be want it to be in 3D, and Aronofsky has been vocal on his distaste for that and preference for more traditional film making techniques. I think this is more or less the divide between trying to make a movie like The Dark Knight and trying to make a movie like Avatar. Both are successful big budget movies made by great directors, but one relies on computers a lot more, and that doesn't seem like Aronofsky's way. It'd be great to still see him tackle this, but who knows if it'll happen. I really just posted this to get a sense of how people feel about the current 3D craze, but comment on this however you like, since I just report the news.
-Which type of movie (Robocop or not) do you prefer?

Avatar passes $300 million on the same day that The Blind Side passes $200 million...

...one of which was highly unexpected, one of which was not (no points for guessing which is which). I suppose now is as good a time as any to ask the question: Can Avatar pass the total gross of The Dark Knight?
-What do you think Avatar's final Box Office take will be?

It was a record breaking Holiday weekend at the Box Office...

The numbers are here, and they are impressive, to the tune of about $278 million. Basically, everything short of Nine had a great weekend, especially Avatar (number 1 this weekend with $75 million) and Sherlock Holmes.
-What did you see this weekend?

Check out our Awards Profile on Avatar and Updated Staff and Chart Predictions!

Yes, to highlight the latest update to The Awards Circuit, we have the last in this year's Awards Profiles, focusing on the giant that is Avatar. It can be found here, and is a great read, so check it out and let us know what you think Avatar's Oscar chances are.
We also have updates to our Staff (found here) and Chart (found here) Predictions, which will give you a better idea how we the staff see the Oscar race shaking out.
-Thoughts on the profile and new predictions?

What are we to make of Avatar's opening weekend?

Well, this article in Cinemablend gives you a good idea of what the Box Office spells for James Cameron and his race of blue people:

Depending on who you ask, Avatar's estimated $73 million weekend haul is either right in line with studio expectations (given that it's not a sequel or an existing property), a disappointment (given how much it cost), or the second-highest December opening of all time (well, that one's actually a fact). But despite the fact that box office prognostication is a sport heavily focused on opening weekends, Avatar is likely to be that rare movie where opening weekend tells you virtually nothing about what will happen.

It's been stated over and over again (mostly by me) that James Cameron's last film, Titanic, quadrupled its opening weekend gross with two weeks of its release. It was one of those word-of-mouth successes that got bigger every time families gathered for Christmas dinner and found themselves discussing why Rose threw the diamond in the ocean at the end. And while Avatar isn't like Titanic in a lot of surface ways, it seems like a likely candidate to perform the same way: a slow burn. Why? Lots of reasons.

It takes word of mouth to get people used to blue people. Avatar hadn't been tracking all that well until a week ago, when critics saw the movie and told the world, wait, this is actually good. Now the adventurous moviegoers who saw it this weekend will do the same thing for their friends, an effect that will particularly be important for the crowds who don't trust critics as a rule.

It doesn't snow on Pandora... but it does on the Eastern seaboard. Avatar's grosses dipped significantly on Saturday in cities that were walloped by this weekend's blizzards. While it's fun to stay home and drink cocoa while the snow is coming down, once people get some time off for Christmas, they'll be more than ready to get out of the house.

Opening weekend belongs to the sequels; the rest belongs to the truly good ones. There's a reason that the holders of most box office records are sequels-- Transformers 2 made more than Transformers, The Dark Knight more than Batman Begins , and so on. Avatar wasn't a must-see this weekend among anyone but the geek-heavy crowds who have anticipated it for years, but again, once the word of mouth starts rolling, it'll become just as necessary a movie as the one with robots beating each other up.

There's lots of competition out there...but also lots of bored people. The weeks surrounding Christmas and New Years are great times to release movies, because no matter how much else is out there, there are a ton of people going to movies. And while most other films out there are targeting specific audiences-- Sherlock Holmes the men who love the character and Guy Ritchie, It's Complicated the women who want Meryl Streep's life, Alvin and the Chipmunks : The Squeakquel the kids who don't know matter-- Avatar is the one true four-quadrant movie out there. People go to movies in groups over Christmas, and this is the one you can guarantee will entertain everyone.

I'm obviously well in the tank for Avatar and rooting for its success, and hey, $73 million domestic plus another $160 internationally is nothing to sneeze it. But I'm seeing much, much bigger things for this one. You haven't seen the last of those blue people, not by a long shot.

-I pretty much agree with this article...thoughts?

Avatar Real Day

Tell us what you thought...Dying to know.

Comment.

So far, so good for Avatar at the Box Office...

From Variety:

Twentieth Century Fox's "Avatar" grossed $3.5 million in midnight runs from approximately 2,000 locations in a strong start for James Cameron's sweeping 3D sci-fi fantasy.

Friday matinees are also selling out.

Many of the midnight runs were in 3D locations.

"Avatar" has a strong shot at securing the best December bow of all time. Current record holder is Will Smith starrer "I Am Legend," which posted an opening weekend gross of $77.2 million. That film grossed roughly $30.6 million on its first Friday, including $1.7 million in midnight grosses from roughly 1,100 theaters.

"Avatar" also is expected to do big business in its day and date international launch, having already scored impressive first-day launches in a number of territories, including France.

"Avatar" faces the challenge of being an original title, versus a franchise sequel.

-Any guesses for what the weekend Box Office will be?

Our early review of Avatar highlights the latest updates to The Awards Circuit!

Yes, the film we're all waiting to see has already been seen by our fearless leader Clayton. His early review of Avatar can be found here, and when you're not cursing his good fortune, be sure to read it and let us know what you think!
We also have a slight update to the Best Actor predictions, which can be found here. There are more updates to the predictions to come, so be sure to stay tuned!
-Thoughts on the early review of Avatar?

Avatar Day Part 2

Tonight @ 7pm, eastern time, Avatar will be premiering to critics and voting members. In Los Angeles and New York City, as well as other locations around the states, Avatar will finally have viewing eyes on it.

There is an embargo on the screenings so we won't be able to comment on it until it is lifted. (There will be bloggers and critics around that will try to break it as seen HERE.

Keep an ear to the ground as people will be dying to comment. There is a high level of security for the event as they are bagging and tagging cameras and camera phones.

Here's to a (hopefully) a great film experience.

One last Avatar Poster...

It's similar to a recent International Poster, but it's still pretty cool...thoughts?

Today's Posters: New looks at Avatar and The Book of Eli, along with a poster for The Back-up Plan

-Thoughts?