Russians Claim Avatar Rips Off Soviet Sci-Fi

Coen brothers, Scorsese, Tarantino could give Cameron a run

(NEWSER) - With Avatar whipping up Oscar buzz for James Cameron, io9 nominates five great directors who could make magic with the “wondrous freedoms” available in the science-fiction genre:

• Paul Greengrass: The man behind The Bourne Ultimatum thrives on a “mixture of chaos and intimacy”—perfect to document the future.
• The Coen brothers: “Few filmmakers have as facile a grasp on the ‘other’ as” the duo behind Fargo, Marc Bernadin writes. “Or as subversive a sense of humor.”

Cameron's comeback 'the most vivid fantasy world seen on screen'

(NEWSER) - James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has been hailed as the future of filmmaking and the stunning fantasy world he has created more than lives up to the hype, say impressed critics.

• "Avatar delivers," writes Steven Rea at the Philadelphia Inquirer . "Combining beyond-state-of-the-art moviemaking with a tried-and-true storyline and a gamer-geek sensibility—not to mention a love angle, an otherworldly bestiary, and an arsenal of 22nd-century weaponry—the movie quite simply rocks."

'Dark Knight' and 'Transformers' aren't far behind

(NEWSER) - The 2009 3D blockbuster Avatar ranks No. 1 on the list of most pirated movies, reports MovieFone via TorrentFreak . Despite director James Cameron's prediction that 3D would discourage illegal copies, pirates still downloaded Avatar 21 million times. (It's still the highest-grossing movie of all time.) Runners-up for most pirated include the Dark Knight and Transformers, each with 19 million downloads, followed by Inception (18 million) and the Hangover (17 million). Full list here . More»

Disney strikes deal to build them within its own parks

(NEWSER) - Avatar fans who couldn't get quite close enough to the lush world of Pandora via 3D will be able to visit in real life. Or at least real life as brought to you by Disney. The company has struck a deal with James Cameron to build "Avatar Lands" within its own theme parks, reports the Orlando Sentinel . The first one will go up inside Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando. It's expected to cost about $500 million and won't be open until 2016. Cameron, meanwhile, is expected to release the next two movie installments in 2014 and 2015. More»

Avatar: Special Edition hits theaters Aug. 27

(NEWSER) - If spending 162 minutes soaking up the brilliance of James Cameron wasn't enough for you, take heart: Avatar: Special Edition hits theaters Aug. 27, and includes unseen footage, reports the LA Times . "Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora and wished they could have stayed there longer," said Cameron in a statement. "So we're making that possible" by way of additional footage that includes "new creatures and action scenes." But if you're not an avid fan, we suggest you avoid: that bonus material is just a slim 8 minutes long. More»