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The Real Forest That Inspired Avatar’s Pandora Back in 2009,James Cameron’sethereal vision propelled “Avatar” into becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. An unforgettable moviegoing experience, the film was teeming with technological firsts which attributed to its success. The immersive world of Pandora (which you can visit now, by the way), along with its otherworldly scenery, flora, and fauna, as well as the 3D graphics on the silver screen, ensured that “Avatar” would climb to the top of the charts everywhere....

The Surprising Influence H.R. Giger Had On Batman Forever “Batman Forever” has gained something of an infamous reputationin the halls of comic book cinema. The 1995 film, helmed bythe late Joel Schumacherand starring Val Kilmer as the Dark Knight, was a box office success upon its debut. It made $52.2 million on its opening weekend, which eventually led to a$336.6 million haul in total. However,critics were spliton Kilmer’s performance as Batman and some fans cried foul over the tonal departure from the gothic visuals and dark tone established in Tim Burton’s Batman films....

The Terminal List Trailer: Chris Pratt Stars In Antoine Fuqua’s Conspiracy Thriller Series Apparently it’s the Summer of Dads. Not only are barbecue-lovin', lawn-mowin' American dads everywhere getting abrand new “Top Gun” moviethis summer in the form of “Top Gun: Maverick,” they’re also getting a series from Prime Video that looks like a mix of Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne: “The Terminal List.” Chris Pratt stars as James Reece, a Navy SEAL whose team gets ambushed and ultimately destroyed....

Theme Park Bits: Hall Of Presidents Gets Trumped, Inside Club 33 At Shanghai Disneyland, And Visit Gotham City And Metropolis In this edition of Theme Park Bits: Since ourlast editionposted on December 10, the world of pop culture has been utterly consumed by a little movie calledStar Wars: The Last Jedi.Life goes on, however, so we now resume our regularly scheduled Theme Park Bits,beginning this week with a round-up of the final set of announcements to come out of Disney Parks Blog’s “12 Days of Disney Parks Christmas” countdown....

This Week In Trailers: Counting, Beyond The Horizon, O Negative, Closet Monster, Ville-Marie Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? This week we fall under the spell ofMonica Bellucci, get weird in a small room, get all up in someone’s kitchen about their family life, ponder existence for a smidge, and try not to get stuck cannibalizing our shipmates in the Arctic....

This Week In Trailers: The Lost Arcade, The Lady In The Car With Glasses And A Gun, Tell Spring Not To Come This Year, Christmas, Again, A Family Affair Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: What better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising?...

Toho Had A Rule For ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ Director, But He Convinced Them To Break It When directorAdam Wingardwas given the keys toGodzilla vs. Kong, he wasn’t just dealing with the folks at Legendary Pictures – he also had to interact with the team at Toho Studios, which owns the rights to the Godzilla character. And according to the director, Toho had a very specific restriction in place for what Godzilla could and could not do....

TV Bits: ‘Queer Eye’, ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’, ‘Great British Bake Off’, ‘The Plot Against America’, And More In this edition of TV Bits: You want moreQueer Eye? You’ve got it. Netflix just gave the popular show a sixth season. PerVariety, the sixth season will take the fab five to “Austin, TX where they will scour the prairie in a search for a whole new roster of heroes in need of a little TLC....

WTF: Australian Titanic Enthusiast Plans To One-Up James Cameron With New Film It’s a potent cocktail: money mixed liberally with delusions of grandeur. Recall, if you will, the nameClive Palmer. He’s the billionaire in Australia (at current conversion rates there’s not even a need to qualify him as a billionaire only in Australian dollars) who last year announced his plans to builda full-size, working Titanic replicaof his very own. That announcement was followed by a report that Palmer was talking to sheep-cloning scientists with the idea ofbuilding his own Jurassic Park....

You Might Not Realize Desperado Is Part Of This Trilogy A good film trilogy is a double-edged sword: It can define a director’s career, and alternatively limit a filmmaker if it becomes the only thing they’re known for. That’s why it can be so interesting when a series of films pivots after its first installment. Sometimes this is the result of shifting influences behind the scenes, but other times — like with the pulpy directorRobert Rodriguez— it’s a matter of trying to provide something that he wasn’t seeing in other movies....

‘A Fistful Of Dollars’ TV Series In Development The other day word broke regarding aRashomonTV series basedon the Akira Kurosawa movie of the same name. Now…here comes news ofA Fistful of DollarsTV series, which is, of course, also based on a Kurosawa movie –Yojimbo. Directed bySergio Leoneand released in 1964,A Fistful of DollarswasClint Eastwood’s first starring role and turned him into a leading man. He played the Man with No Name, a part he’d play again inFor a Few Dollars More(1965), andThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly(1966)....

‘A Quiet Place’ Writers Scott Beck And Bryan Woods Met With Lucasfilm About ‘Star Wars’ And ‘Indiana Jones’ Last year,A Quiet Placebecame a sleeper sensation, launching director John Krasinski’s star sky-high and earning raves for its taut, compelling script. ScreenwritersBryan WoodsandScott Beckbecame a hot commodity in Hollywood, opening all sorts of doors for the duo. And, Woods and Beck recently revealed, one of those doors led to Lucasfilm. TheA Quiet Placewriters confirmed that in the wake of the smash success of the 2018 horror film, they met with Lucasfilm to talk about two of the studio’s biggest properties:Indiana JonesandStar Wars....

‘American Gladiators’ Reboot On The Way, Executive Produced By Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg Longtime collaboratorsSeth Rogen & Evan Goldberghave worn a lot of hats over the years. They’ve worked together as co-writers and co-produers on projects likeSuperbad, Pineapple Express, andSausage Party, and they both wrote, produced and directed the stellar apocalyptic comedyThis Is The End. Lately, the two have been dabbling on television with adaptations ofPreacherandThe Boys, but now they’re doing something much different on the small screen....