Despite Dr. Grace Augustine being “with Eywa now” Sigourney Weaver hinted last year that her character could return in the Avatar sequels as she still exists “in the tree” and director James Cameron has thought of a way to keep “the family together” (i.e. the main cast).

While on the rounds promoting the Taylor Lautner/John Singleton thriller Abduction Weaver was asked about Avatar 2 and 3, and confirmed she will be back.

From Coming Soon:

“Don’t worry, I will be back,” she said of Avatar 2, confirming the hint that she dropped nearly a year ago, “Jim [Cameron] says no one ever dies in science fiction. He’s told me the stories for the next two movies and I have to say that they’re absolutely wonderful and there’s a real treat in store. Now we just have to make them.”

In June James Cameron said he was writing scripts for both films, which will be shot back-to-back, and they are currently “doing a lot of preliminary work right now on new software and new animation techniques.” Earlier this year Sam Worthington mentioned that Cameron is going to explore more of what lies beneath the oceans on Pandora, although he said “it won’t fully take place underwater but he’s definitely going to explore — same as the mountains, he can explore more, outer space [as well] — it’s up to him.”

Avatar 2 has a release date of December 2014 and Avatar 3 will hit a year later in December 2015. Filming will begin sometime next year.

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Lionsgate have released a short and action-filled second trailer for Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner. The movie follows a teenager who finds out that his parents aren’t really his when he sees his baby picture on a missing person’s website.

The movie is a mix of ‘teen stars’, and more establish actors such as three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina and Jason Isaacs. Lilly Colins, who will be seen next year in Tarsem Singh’s Snow White movie, plays Taylor’s love interest.

Watch below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website? Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers) and will be released on September 23, 2011.

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The first trailer for Lionsgate’s Abduction starring Taylor Lautner has been released online. The movie follows a teenager who finds out that his parents aren’t really his when he sees his baby picture on a missing person’s website.

The movie is a mix of ‘teen stars’, and more establish actors such as three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina and Jason Isaacs. Lilly Colins, who was recently cast as Snow White, plays Taylor’s love interest.

Watch the trailer below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website? Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers) and will be released on September 23, 2011.

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While Paul is not the third entry into the infamous Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s third cinematic team-up is almost as enjoyable as their previous collaborations. Let’s face it: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are both awesome movies, and without Edgar Wright behind the camera to complete the triumvirate, one might assume that another director stepping into the situation would be a bit intimidated to work with such a close-knit group. Not the case for Superbad and Adventureland director Greg Mottola, who, while not matching Wright’s unique dynamism, imbues Paul with his own pacing and comedy sensibilities that ultimately results in a very enjoyable moviegoing experience.

The story follows Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), two geeky British comic book creators who travel to America to go on a road trip to see their favorite alien hot spots across the country. Along the way, they discover an actual alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) and go on the run from Agent Zoil (Bateman), a “man in black” tasked with hunting the alien down. Pegg and Frost’s influence is felt all over this film and keeps with their signature style of slightly mocking a genre, paying homage to it, and adding an exciting new entry to its ranks all at the same time. This is one that movie geeks will love in the same way that gamers and pop culture nerds loved Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; there are so many references to other movies (alien, road trip, and otherwise) that I could spend an entire post listing all of them.

The CG work for Paul’s alien body was surprisingly impressive, never aiming for “realism,” per se, but always remaining fluid and true to the character. And speaking of the character, Paul was hilarious. He’s a smoking foul-mouthed version of E.T., embracing (and at times contributing to) human pop culture in a way that makes his character almost pleasant among all the cursing and drinking. Honestly, Paul himself was the character about whom I had the biggest doubts going in, but Seth Rogen – an actor yet to give a truly excellent performance in my opinion – did a fantastic job with the voice work and really gave the alien an extra spark of life that would be hard for many other actors to replicate.

The movie featured smaller roles for a lot of people we’ve seen in comedy before. Kristen Wiig is charming as the extremist Christian whose world is turned upside down with the discovery of extraterrestrial life (her character also doubles as Pegg’s love interest and provides a bit of conflict between Pegg and Frost). Sigourney Weaver has a small cameo as the determined head of the government agency looking for Paul. Bill Hader (“SNL”) and Joe Lo Truglio (Superbad) play rookie agents tagging along with Bateman, David Koechner (Anchorman) and Jesse Plemons (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”) are a couple of redneck homophobes that become bitter enemies to our heroes, and Jeffrey Tambor (“Arrested Development”) has a small role as a self-centered comic creator the guys meet at Comic-Con.

Speaking of Comic-Con, the movie has the best depiction of the convention I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s such an accurate representation of what it’s like, and though the movie wasn’t actually shot at the convention, it could have fooled me. I had a chance to attend my first Comic-Con last year with the guys and girls at GeekTyrant (check out all our coverage here), and Paul not only captured the physical accuracy of the convention center and surrounding areas but also the giddy feeling of excitement it provides – geeking out as only geeks can.

If I have any qualms with the movie, it’s that the story was a bit predictable at times. Due to personal bias, I’m more willing to forgive predictability with movies that embrace fun than ones that aim for seriousness, so this wasn’t as big of a turn off for me as it most assuredly will be for some. To me, the comedy and the heart are the most important parts of this movie, and they hit on all the right beats. A lot of people will find the anti-Christian overtones to be a bit off-putting, but aside from that one issue, I think the entire film has an infectious enthusiasm to it – all of the protagonists are extremely likeable and Pegg and Frost’s writing makes it very easy to root for them. The pacing was solid, with no scene dragging on too long and the action moving quickly across different locations to keep things visually interesting.

Paul is a great entry into the ranks of the Pegg-Frost collaborations, and a new high point in Greg Mottola’s career alongside Superbad. This movie will undoubtedly put smiles on the faces of movie lovers across the country as they take an insane road trip with these characters that ends at the absolute perfect location. Until next time…

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We finally have our first look at Paul, which was originally going to be released this year but got pushed back to February 2011. The film stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver, and follows two British comic book geeks (Pegg and Frost) who go on a road trip through America. On the way, they discover an alien named Paul (voiced by Rogen) at Area 51 who needs their help.

The film is directed by Superbad director Greg Mottola so fans of that type of comedy should be looking forward to this, as will fans of Pegg and Frost’s earlier work in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

This teaser, which you can watch below, doesn’t really show us anything wildly hilarious, but that may come with future trailers and the inevitable red band one. In this case the cast is a good enough reason to be interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMzsQzRFXqc

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According to IGN 20th Century Fox will release the Alien Anthology on Blu-ray in the US on October 26th. The U.K. will get it one day earlier on October 25th and Australia will have to wait until November 3rd.

The six-disc set will include all four Alien films and over 60 hours of bonus features. Those bonus features will include about 12,000 images and material from the 1990s LaserDisc release, the “Legacy” release and the Quadrilogy set. There will also be screen tests of Sigourney Weaver prior to filming the original Alien, unseen deleted scenes, the previously unseen original cut of “Wreckage and Rage: The Making of Alien3″ and more.

Check out the artwork and specs below:

Disc One: Alien

• 1979 Theatrical Version
• 2003 Director’s Cut with Ridley Scott Introduction
• Audio Commentary by Director Ridley Scott, Writer Dan O’Bannon, Executive Producer Ronald Shusett, Editor Terry Rawlings, Actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and John Hurt
• Audio Commentary (for Theatrical Cut only) by Ridley Scott
• Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
• Composer’s Original Isolated Score by Jerry Goldsmith
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Two: Aliens

• 1986 Theatrical Version
• 1991 Special Edition with James Cameron Introduction
• Audio Commentary by Director James Cameron, Producer Gale Anne Hurd, Alien Effects Creator Stan Winston, Visual Effects Supervisors Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak, Miniature Effects Supervisor Pat McClung, Actors Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, Carrie Henn and Christopher Henn
• Final Theatrical Isolated Score by James Horner
• Composer’s Original Isolated Score by James Horner
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Three: Alien3

• 1992 Theatrical Version
• 2003 Special Edition (Restored Workprint Version)
• Audio Commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thomson, B.S.C., Editor Terry Rawlings, Alien Effects Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Producer Richard Edlund, A.S.C., Actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
• Final Theatrical Isolated Score by Elliot Goldenthal
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Four: Alien Resurrection

• 1997 Theatrical Version
• 2003 Special Edition with Jean-Pierre Jeunet Introduction
• Audio Commentary by Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Editor Herve Schneid, A.C.E., Alien Effects Creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr., Visual Effects Supervisor Pitof, Conceptual Artist Sylvain Despretz, Actors Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon and Leland Orser
• Final Theatrical Isolated Score by John Frizzell
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience with Weyland-Yutani Datastream

Disc Five: Making The Anthology

• The Beast Within: Making Alien
  • Star Beast: Developing the Story
  • The Visualists: Direction and Design
  • Truckers in Space: Casting
  • Fear of the Unknown: Shepperton Studios, 1978
  • The Darkest Reaches: Nostromo and Alien Planet
  • The Eighth Passenger: Creature Design
  • Future Tense: Editing and Music
  • Outward Bound: Visual Effects
  • A Nightmare Fulfilled: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods
• Superior Firepower: Making Aliens
  • 57 Years Later: Continuing the Story
  • Building Better Worlds: From Concept to Construction
  • Preparing for Battle: Casting and Characterization
  • This Time It’s War: Pinewood Studios, 1985
  • The Risk Always Lives: Weapons and Action
  • Bug Hunt: Creature Design
  • Beauty and the Bitch: Power Loader vs. Queen Alien
  • Two Orphans: Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn
  • The Final Countdown: Music, Editing and Sound
  • The Power of Real Tech: Visual Effects
  • Aliens Unleashed: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods
• Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien3
  • Development Hell: Concluding the Story
  • Tales of the Wooden Planet: Vincent Ward’s Vision
  • Stasis Interrupted: David Fincher’s Vision
  • Xeno-Erotic: H.R. Giger’s Redesign
  • The Color of Blood: Pinewood Studios, 1991
  • Adaptive Organism: Creature Design
  • The Downward Spiral: Creative Differences
  • Where the Sun Burns Cold: Fox Studios, L.A. 1992
  • Optical Fury: Visual Effects
  • Requiem for a Scream: Music, Editing and Sound
  • Post-Mortem: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods
• One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection
  • From the Ashes: Reviving the Story
  • French Twist: Direction and Design
  • Under the Skin: Casting and Characterization
  • Death from Below: Fox Studios, Los Angeles, 1996
  • In the Zone: The Basketball Scene
  • Unnatural Mutation: Creature Design
  • Genetic Composition: Music
  • Virtual Aliens: Computer Generated Imagery
  • A Matter of Scale: Miniature Photography
  • Critical Juncture: Reaction to the Film
  • Enhancement Pods
  • MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience to Access and Control Enhancement Pods

Disc Six: The Anthology Archives

Alien

• Pre-Production
  • First Draft Screenplay by Dan O’Bannon
  • Ridleygrams: Original Thumbnails and Notes
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Alien: Conceptual Art Portfolio
  • Sigourney Weaver Screen Tests with Select Director Commentary
  • Cast Portrait Gallery
• Production
  • The Chestbuster: Multi-Angle Sequence with Commentary
  • Video Graphics Gallery
  • Production Image Galleries
  • Continuity Polaroids
  • The Sets of Alien
  • H.R. Giger’s Workshop Gallery
• Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Additional Deleted Scenes
  • Image & Poster Galleries
• Experience in Terror
• Special Collector’s Edition LaserDisc Archive
• The Alien Legacy
• American Cinematheque: Ridley Scott Q&A
• Trailers & TV Spots

Aliens

• Pre-Production
  • Original Treatment by James Cameron
  • Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Videomatics with Commentary
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Aliens: Image Galleries
  • Cast Portrait Gallery
• Production
  • Production Image Galleries
  • Continuity Polaroids
  • Weapons and Vehicles
  • Stan Winston’s Workshop
  • Colonial Marine Helmet Cameras
  • Video Graphics Gallery
  • Weyland-Yutani Inquest: Nostromo Dossiers
• Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Deleted Scene: Burke Cocooned
  • Deleted Scene Montage
  • Image Galleries
  • Special Collector’s Edition LaserDisc Archive
  • Main Title Exploration
  • Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright
  • Trailers & TV Spots

Alien3

• Pre-Production
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Art of Arceon
  • The Art of Fiorina
• Production
  • Furnace Construction: Time-Lapse Sequence
  • EEV Bioscan: Multi-Angle Vignette with Commentary
  • Production Image Galleries
  • A.D.I.’s Workshop
• Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Visual Effects Gallery
• Alien3 Advance Featurette
• The Making of Alien3 Promotional Featurette
• Trailers & TV Spots

Alien Resurrection

• Pre-Production
  • First Draft Screenplay by Joss Whedon
  • Test Footage: A.D.I. Creature Shop with Commentary
  • Test Footage: Costumes, Hair and Makeup
  • Pre-Visualizations: Multi-Angle Rehearsals
  • Storyboard Archive
  • The Marc Caro Portfolio: Character Designs
  • The Art of Resurrection: Image Galleries
• Production
  • Production Image Galleries
  • A.D.I.’s Workshop
• Post-Production and Aftermath
  • Visual Effects Gallery
  • Special Shoot: Promotional Photo Archive
• HBO First Look: The Making of Alien Resurrection
• Alien Resurrection Promotional Featurette
• Trailers & TV Spots

Anthology

• Two Versions of Alien Evolution
• The Alien Saga
• Patches and Logos Gallery
• Aliens 3D Attraction Scripts and Gallery
• Aliens in the Basement: The Bob Burns Collection
• Parodies
• Dark Horse Cover Gallery
• Patches and Logos Gallery
• MU-TH-UR Mode Interactive Experience

The Alien Anthology on Blu-ray is available to pre-order from Amazon here.

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Earlier this year James Cameron said that 20th Century Fox may be looking to re-release Avatar on 3D screens after all the summer blockbusters are out of the way. Alice in Wonderland, which was released in March, took over all the 3D screens after Avatar claimed them for 2 straight months. Apparently Avatar could have made another few hundred million if it still had them all to itself.

Now 20th Century Fox has announced that the highest grossing film of all time will be re-released on Digital 3D and IMAX 3D on August 27th with over 8 minutes of never before seen footage.

Here are the re-release dates for other countries:

BELGIUM 8 SEPTEMBER 2010
RUSSIA 26 AUGUST 2010
SPAIN 17 SEPTEMBER 2010
UK 27 AUGUST 2010
AUSTRALIA 26 AUGUST 2010
INDIA 27 AUGUST 2010
JAPAN 16 OCTOBER 2010
SOUTH KOREA 16 SEPTEMBER 2010
MEXICO 15 OCTOBER 2010
ARGENTINA 16 SEPTEMBER 2010

No word on how long it will be on screens for this time, however as the film currently sits at $2.7 billion worldwide they may be aiming for the $3 billion mark, at least.

Will 8 minutes of unseen footage spur you to see Avatar on the big screen again?

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With less than a month to go before Avatar is released on DVD and Blu-ray 20th Century Fox are once again in promotion mode, although I suppose letting everyone know about the April 22nd release won’t be that difficult following the film’s success.

Below you can watch the first TV spot for the DVD/Blu-ray release along with details about they will (and won’t) contain.

You can pre-order Avatar via these links: Avatar [Blu-ray] | Avatar [DVD]

Today James Cameron was interviewed by Collider and spoke a bit more about what the November release of the DVD and Blu-ray will contain.

It will have a lot of great features, making of stuff and behind the scenes stuff. You’ll be able to do a branching experience where you can select if you want to watch the basic movie, if you want to watch the movie with six minutes of footage added back in, or if you want to watch an earlier cut of the film that has 30 or 35 minutes of additional footage. It will be an unrecognizable movie. You’ll be going on a journey into a whole different version of Avatar. And some of the scenes won’t be done because we won’t have the budget to finish 20 or 30 minutes of CG stuff. We’re taking the Greatest Hits six minutes and finishing that.

If you do that one experience, you’ll watch a movie that’s only about six minutes longer, but it’s seamless. If you do the other experience, you’re going to watch a movie that’s much longer and has a lot of stuff in it that you won’t recognize, some of which won’t be finished. It will be a little bit more like some of the Disney stuff that they do where they leave pencil tests in for scenes that were never done. That’s really more of a fan’s exploration of what the movie might have been, or a lot of the ideas that fed into it.

He also told Sci-fi Wire that the deleted scenes, which involve Jake on Earth before heading to Pandora and a love scene between Jake and Neytiri, will be included on the DVD and may be included in the planned re-release of the film later this year.

And in other Avatar news 20th Century Fox has teamed up with Earth Day Network and other organizations around the world in order to plant one million trees across the globe by the end of 2010. The message of Avatar was all about conservation and ecological harmony, so it’s a cool thing for Fox to do. The only downside is that these trees won’t glow purple at night, and nobody will be able to connect themselves to their branches and have a good listen to deceased neighbours.

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Amazon.com has now made James Cameron’s Avatar available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray. Yesterday 20th Century Fox confirmed the release date of April 22nd, which Cameron mentioned last month. The director also said that the upcoming release will only contain a ‘bare bones’ version of the film, with a 3D version hitting the shelves in November with all the special features, deleted and unfinished scenes. I guess they want people to buy it twice.

We also heard last week that 20th Century Fox are thinking about re-releasing the film in 3D later this year as they believe there’s still a lot more money to be made. Alice in Wonderland gained all the 3D screens earlier this month after Avatar had them to itself for nearly 2 months straight.

You can pre-order Avatar via the links below:

Avatar [Blu-ray] | Avatar [DVD]

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It seems $2.6 billion worldwide just isn’t enough for some people. In an interview with USA Today Avatar director James Cameron said that 20th Century Fox may be looking to re-release the film on 3D screens after all the summer blockbusters are out of the way. Alice in Wonderland, which was released last week, has taken up all the 3D screens after Avatar claimed them for 2 straight months. Apparently Avatar could have made another few hundred million if it still had them all to itself.

Q: When is Avatar coming out in 3D on Blu-ray?

A: We’re not officially announcing it right now but I’m hoping for fall. The wildcard is that we might be re-releasing the movie this fall. It’s kind of gotten stomped out (in theaters) because of Alice in Wonderland. The word we’re getting back from exhibitors is we probably left a couple of hundred million dollars on the table as a result. The question is the appetite still going to be there after the summer glut of movies. We’re going to assess that. We’re talking about maybe adding in additional footage and doing something creative.

The only big 3D release toward the end of the year is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 which will be released in November, so a re-release in September/October could be likely. That is, if Cameron wants to battle for 3D screens with Saw VII or Resident Evil: Afterlife.

Cameron also said they have plans to convert Titanic into 3D and re-release it in the spring of 2012, which will be the 100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.

Would you be interested in seeing Avatar again on the big screen later this year?

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