Our Top Story Tonight: "Avatar" Heading Underwater

Tonight's Top Story is the somewhat unbelievable news coming from Avatar producer Jon Landau: James Cameron & co. are planning on filming action scenes via motion capture underwater for the long awaited sequel. Here is his exact quote: "We have already made a commitment that the Avatar sequels will have underwater sequences, inspired as much by time Jim has spent scuba diving as his expedition to the Mariana Trench. And we're working on a way to do performance capture underwater right now. We have some really good people working on that. We set the problems, bring in people and say "Attack it. Here's what we want to do, and we believe you can do it" and then we just have to get them to believe they can do it too." Of course, the decision shouldn't be all that surprising- after all, Cameron has been spending a lot of time underwater as of late and it seems right up the ambitious director's alley.  But, naturally, there are many questions left unanswered about this decision, and we aren't even sure when the film will be released. Originally it was meant to be released in 2015, but that seems highly unlikely at the moment.

As an adamant defender Cameron and his entertaining films, I feel unbiased in saying that I am not looking forward to Avatar 2. I loved the original, and enjoy many of Cameron's films, but a sequel just seems like overkill. I'd much rather see Cameron tackle new projects. With this announcement, I can't help but feel a bit curious to see what the action would look like underwater, but at the same time I just don't care enough about the film itself. And, truthfully, I don't think Cameron's vision of filming underwater will actually come true. It just seems too unsafe and too difficult. And, perhaps most importantly- is their actually a story out there for Cameron to tell in this universe? Or does he just want to play with a few new toys? And, lastly, how many of us thought of "South Park" after hearing this news? Anyone? Just me?

After the jump, check out new stories involving two of this year's Oscar movies and more!




In other news...

• The trailer for Ron Howard's Rush appeared online this morning, and serves as the first real glimpse of footage we've seen from any of this year's Oscar movies. The film follows Formula 1 racer Niki Lauda, who is nearly killed in a race but decides to get behind the wheel again to challenge his rival, James Hunt. The film is directed by Ron Howard with Dan Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) playing Lauda and Hunt respectively, Olivia Wilde and Christian McKay are amongst the supporting players. The footage looks solid, though the real thing that caught my attention are the performances by Brühl and Hemsworth. Are we looking at possible Oscar contenders here? The film hits theaters September 20.
• One of my most anticipated films of the year, Dallas Buyers Club, has found distribution though Focus Features. The studio has a relatively empty slate for Oscar season, but they plan on giving the film a major awards season run, only increasing the chances that Matthew McConaughey will be amongst the serious contenders this fall. The film, which follows a homophonic man who is diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s and begins smuggling drugs into the US to survive, also stars Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner and has not set a release date.
• A green band trailer for Kick Ass 2 was also released today. I'm not very excited for this film, so I didn't check it out, but you can watch it right here. The film will be released August 16.
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier has begun production today, giving the chances for the producers to finally clear up some of the casting rumors. For one thing, Robert Redford is confirmed to play a high ranking member of S.H.I.E.L.D, while Scarlett Johansson will have a much bigger part than previously reported. Sebastian Stan will also reprise his role as Bucky Barnes (now I'm no comic expert, but didn't he die...?) along with Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. The film also features newcomers Emily VanCamp, Frank Grillo and Anthony Mackie and is directed by the Russo brothers. It will be released on April 4, 2014. You can check out the first official still here. 
• Todd Fields, director of the great drama Little Children, will next adapt Beautiful Ruins for the big screen. The novel, written by Jess Walter, is described as an "epic romance novel" that spans continents and centuries as it follows both an actress in the 1960s who learns she is dying and flees to Italy and a development assistant's relationship with a producer in modern day Hollywood. Hm, sounds interesting enough. I'll have to add it to my ever-growing reading list.
• Finally, The Great Gatsby has yet another trailer to it's name. This one, an international trailer, is basically an edited down version of the trailer released last week, but it's still worth a watch.