Avatar News: Banned in China, 23 Minute Featurette, and Man Dies From Excitement Dan Koelsch, January 20, 2010January 20, 2010 James Cameron’s Avatar tends to attract some pretty strange news. There has already been the report of a woman getting shot during an Avatar screening, and now we have another death related to Avatar. More on this story, plus China banning the film, and a 23 minute behind-the-scenes featurette. After Avatar had the biggest opening in China’s history, the Chinese government has pulled the 2D version of the film from all cinemas, according to BBC News. Why? The official statement from China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is that the 2D sales were poor (only 1/3 of the total revenue), so this is standard practice. However, not everyone is buying this answer. Critics of the decision are claiming that the film’s message is what caused it to be downsized. The film’s plotline of forcing natives to move for a corporation mirrors the country’s efforts to move citizens in order to build lucrative property. Also, the fact a movie with this message has done so well scares the Chinese government, so replacing with with more Communist-friendly films both supports the government and homegrown cinema. Interestingly enough, in the same part of the world, a Tawainese man died days after seeing Avatar in theaters. The 42 year old man apparently had already had health problems, and his doctor claims watching the movie made the man over-excited and thus caused his fatal stroke. Lastly, Yahoo has a nice behind the scenes featurette on Avatar that’s longer than most at over 22 minutes. Take a look: News Avatar
Sony Wants YouTube To Take Down Popular Crowdfunded Film “Sintel” April 7, 2014April 7, 2014 When a big and powerful movie studio as large as Sony Pictures sees their copyrighted material being used without their consent they will rightfully ask whatever video hosting website to take it down. But when they don’t own anything or their is no obvious copyright infringement it creates some what… Read More
The Social Network Has Second Teaser July 8, 2010July 8, 2010 Just a few weeks ago we revealed the first teaser trailer for David Finch’s The Social Network, which is about the controversial rise of Facebook. Now a second trailer is out, and while it’s similar to the first in that it’s just audio and images (no footage), it stylishly uses… Read More
Super 8 Shooting Schedule and Even More Photos Revealed September 23, 2010September 26, 2010 Our buddy over at Super 8 News has got even more photos from Weirton, West Virginia, the filming location for Super 8. This time however, there are some shots of the actual production, and we have a shooting schedule for the small town. Read More