James Cameron’s Avatar

Fox has moved around the dates of its 2009 features including James Cameron’s “Avatar.”  “Avatar,” which will have a 3-D release, has been pushed back from Memorial Day 2009 to December 18.  Taking up the Memorial Day slot will be “Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian,” “Ice Age 3″ will be released July 1, and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” will finally see the light of day on May 1.  Speculation suggests that Fox pushed back “Avatar” in order to take advantage of the growing number of 3-D screens in the United States.  “Avatar” is about an ex-marine who travels to distant planet and leads an uprising.

A have to say I’m disappointed we won’t be seeing “Avatar” for another two years, especially because it’s not about the film actually being completed but about capitalizing on using those expensive 3-D cameras.  I’ve been hearing about this movie for a couple of years now (a friend of a friend is a production assistant), but this is the first mention I’ve heard of a plot, which sounds pretty basic.  Knowing Cameron, though, I’m sure he’ll put an original spin on it, not to mention that Peter Jackson’s visual effects company, Weta Digital, is on the job, so the finished project should look fantastic.  Shame about that “Night at the Museum 2,” though.  I don’t care so much about the movie itself, but that subtitle is tragic.  Rumor has it “Wolverine” will delve into his prior relationship with Victor Creed aka Sabertooth.  I’d actually be interested to see if they make any reference to “Origin” in the Wolverine spin-off so Hugh Jackman can reprise that “Kate & Leopold” “Prestige” 19thcentury character he does so well.