Twitter grew tremendously in 2009, mainly because it has become a people search engine. News, events, and movies become trending topics and you can see what people are saying about them in real-time. As we will soon be heading into 2010 Twitter has complied a list of the top trending topics (ie. most talked about) of 2009 for different categories, and below is the list of movies that took over the Twitter-sphere this year:

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe

I have no idea what True Blood is doing there. Harry Potter and New Moon were expected, however the movie that takes the #3 spot is interesting. I can remember around the time District 9 was released Twitter was full of positive buzz for the film, and that buzz most likely encouraged people to see it. I have no way of proving it but I’m pretty sure the Twitter buzz contributed to the film making over $200 million worldwide. Twitter probably contributed to the success of Paranormal Activity too.

What can we expect for next year? Well we have Eclipse and Deathly Hallows being released so they will probably hit the top spots again. I can imagine Iron Man 2 becoming a trending topic for a while, and maybe Kick-Ass will be the ‘District 9′ of 2010?

(You can follow Filmonic on Twitter here)

The 82nd Academy Awards will be held next March and the 15 movies nominated for the Visual Effects Oscar have been revealed. Here they are:

Angels & Demons
Avatar
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Caro
District 9
G-Force
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

In early January the list will be narrowed down to 7, then later in the month members of the visual effects branch will watch excerpts from the movies, and the list will be narrowed down to 3. Earlier this year it was a showdown between Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, with Button’s ageing effects coming out on top.

Since Avatar Day when we got a glimpse at 15 minutes of footage I’ve had my money on Avatar winning, and from the early reviews it seems it will be a serious contender. I’m glad District 9 got a nod. Out of all the films nominated it had the lowest budget ($30 million) and the guys at WETA did a great job with those financial constraints.

Which visual effects wowed you in 2009? Who do you want to win the Visual Effects Oscar?

It’s been a while since i’ve seen a well done trailer mash-up, so I was pleased when I got a link to this in my inbox today. Youtube user TM2Megatron has put together a trailer mash-up featuring the visuals of WALL-E, and using the audio from the Watchmen teaser trailer. As the Watchmen teaser trailer was so good it sparked a number of mash-ups but this is probably the best one i’ve seen. Watch below!

The celebrate the release of Watchmen and to drum up some publicity in the UK, Paramount decided to use the world’s biggest water screen projector to project an image of Dr. Manhattan on the River Thames. Watch below!

From /film:

The water screen, moored especially for this occasion in the middle of the Thames between the London Eye and The Shell Building, created an enormous vertical screen of water that extended to 72 feet in height and 100 feet across. Specially created, never to be seen again Watchmen footage, was projected onto the screen to showcase Dr Manhattan’s translucent and shimmering form in dramatic and gigantic effect -an excellent and exciting medium to see Dr Manhattan in all his super human glory as he hovered over the city in true Watchmen style!

During the whole Warner Bros/Fox Watchmen case we didn’t really hear much from the creative team behind it, as it was really a matter for the studios. However now everything is sorted Watchmen and X-Men writer David Hayter has spoken out and made some controversial comments about 20th Century Fox:

“I had worked for 20th Century Fox before, and I was fully under the belief that they had the potential to shut down the movie and remake it themselves out of pure spite and meanness. They’re a rough group of people … and somewhat ethically challenged.”

“… My experience told me that they could shut down this movie, and lock it away in Rupert’s vault … and make it the most unseen desired cult movie of all time … but I was extremely concerned. Many producer friends of mine said the same thing as Alex – that they’re just going for money or whatever — but I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, but there’s something beyond money going on at that studio and it has to do with … Satan.”

Listen to the complete audio over at Hollywood Outbreak

I guess he won’t be writing for them anytime soon…

io9 got some cool new images of Dr. Manhattan from Watchman.

This awesome-looking scene, where Dr. Manhattan visits Moloch’s “vice den” and vaporizes the patrons, circa 1960, occurs as part of a montage after journalists confront Dr. Manhattan and accuse him of having caused some of his friends and coworkers to die of cancer. Manhattan retreats to Mars and thinks back on his life, including courting Janey Slater, getting disintegrated in his intrinsic field-test chamber, reassembling in the cafeteria, and then this little moment at Moloch’s dive.

Click here to see 5 more images!

Now the legal stuff is out of the way Warner Bros can now go all out when it comes to marketing Watchmen. Below is a final poster that appeared over at Yahoo!.

As well as a poster, SHH got an exclusive image from The New Frontiersman, a Watchmen viral site. It shows head Smurf Dr. Manhattan giving the Vietnamese a special one-off Yoga session.

After a long and exciting legal battle 20th Century Fox and Warner. Bros have finally come to a settlement over the rights to Watchmen, and who gets what. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed, but it is said to involve a sizable cash payment to Fox and a percentage of the film’s box office. Fox will not be a co-distributor on the film, nor will it own a piece of the Watchmen property going forward.

Below is an official statement from both studios:

Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox have resolved their dispute regarding the rights to the upcoming motion picture Watchmen in a confidential settlement. Warner Bros acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims, which were asserted prior to the start of principal photography. Fox acknowledges that Warner Bros. acted in good faith in defending against those claims Warner Bros. and Fox, like all Watchmen fans, look forward with great anticipation to this film’s March 6 release in theatres.

It looks like we will still be seeing Watchmen on it’s original release date, March 6th!

If you plan on pre-booking your tickets to see Zack Snyder’s Watchmen I suggest you wait until after the 20th January, as that is when a judge will decide whether it can still keep it’s March release date.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Lawyers for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. have agreed to let a federal judge decide whether Warner Bros. will be allowed to release Watchmen on March 6, forgoing a jury trial that could have put the high-profile film’s future into even longer limbo.

In court papers filed Monday with U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess, attorneys for Fox and Warner Bros. jointly said they would let the judge decide Jan. 20 whether Fox could block the film’s theatrical distribution as Fox has been seeking all along as part of its copyright infringement lawsuit against Warner Bros.

I hope we will still be able to see Watchmen on it’s original release date. If not the film could be delayed for months!

A new Japanese trailer for Watchmen is online and it gives us a glimpse at some new footage, including Nixon looking at a doomsday map and hints at the Watchmen’s involvement in the Kennedy assassination. This movie just keeps looking better with every new trailer that pops up (and there have been quite a few).

Watch it below!