“Avatar” will be back on 3-D Imax screens in August, and it will be longer than ever. Imax and 20th Century Fox said on Friday said that they planned to rerelease James Cameron’s science-fiction epic for a two-week run beginning Aug. 27. The film, which had a running time of 162 minutes, will include 8 minutes of new material. Fox executives had been mulling a rerelease ever since “Avatar,” which came out last Dec. 18, got nudged off Imax screens in March by Walt Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.” The blockbuster has sold about $2.7 billion in tickets worldwide. (Above, Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, left, and Jake, voiced by Sam Worthington.) [Source]

The Olympian epic earned $64.1 million from theaters in the United States and Canada since opening Thursday evening, said Time Warner Inc-owned distributor Warner Bros Pictures.

The opening was in line with industry expectations, and the $61.4 million portion from the traditional Friday-to-Sunday period sets a new record for an Easter release. The previous Easter record was set by “Scary Movie 4″ ($40.2 million) in 2006.

The film, starring Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) as the heroic Perseus and Ralph Fiennes as the villainous Hades, also grossed $44.2 million from No. 1 openings in all 15 of its foreign markets. Spain contributed $8.6 million in five days, Britain $7.8 million in three, and South Korea $6.8 million in four. The early worldwide total stands at $108.26 million.

Worldwide, 3D screenings accounted for just over half of total sales even though the film played in more 2D locations.

Since the success of “Avatar,” Hollywood has rushed to capitalize on 3D movies because studios can charge higher ticket prices for the experience. “Clash of the Titans,” which cost over $100 million to make, is not even a true 3D film since it was converted from 2D after filming was completed. Read full article.

A change is coming.

Thanks to the success of Avatar, Warner Brothers Studios is now considering releasing its fantasy-actioner remake Clash of the Titans in the popular and profitable format of 3D. (This proves that the Avatar experiment was right in hoping that people would penny up more for a third-dimension experience).

Clash of the Titans stars Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson. Neeson plays Zeus in a role made famous by Laurence Olivier when the original came out in 1981.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has ordered a 3D test of the film, and will decide by January 30th on whether it wants to release Titans in the originally planned 2D or with the enhanced 3D. Usually, most 3D films are shot from the very beginning in 3D, but there is certainly technology that helps convert 2D pictures to 3D (as like what happened with the Toy Story re-releases last fall).

If Warner Bros. does decide to go 3D, the company will also face competition with How To Train Your Dragon, the fantasy-family film from Dreamworks that also comes out on March 26th. However, when a studio insider was asked about the difficulty of securing 3D screens for Titans also, the person said “No problem.”

What do you think? Does it matter to you whether Clash of the Titans is in 3D or 2D? Will you pay extra to see the Cracken in a third dimension, or will you be seeing How To Train Your Dragon instead? [Source]

The runaway success of science fiction blockbuster Avatar will accelerate the 3D movie revolution, which has already powered Hollywood to a record year at the box office, analysts say.

James Cameron’s futuristic fantasy is on course to become the highest-grossing movie of all time after smashing the one-billion-dollar barrier in only three weeks.

The film, which has a reported budget of between $US300 ($A329) and $US500 million ($A548 million), has been hailed as a landmark in movie history and its impact will be felt across the industry, experts say.

“The ramifications of Avatar’s performance are huge,” said Jeff Bock, chief analyst with box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “Ripple effects are going to occur fast and furiously.”

Bock said the stellar success of Avatar, which is already the fourth highest-grossing movie in history, would persuade other studios that big budget 3D films represented an attractive investment.  Read full article.