It may not have taken home a lot of Oscar gold, but many might argue that the jangly coins in Avatar’s pocket might mean a lot more to Fox and James Cameron.  But despite the massive success they’ve enjoyed in theaters, Cameron and Fox want a little more of your hard earned cash.

They noticed that the demand in digital 3D immediately went up when the IMAX run was up. They’re concerned that giving up their screens to Alice in Wonderland may have cost them, in Cameron’s words,  “a couple hundred million dollars.” They know people will eat up more Avatar. So they’re planning a summer re-release.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,  discussions are underway to bring the film back this summer with additional footage. Cameron feels that he was forced to rush the film into theaters to make its December 18 date, and had to leave too many scenes on the cutting room floor.

There’s actually some debate as to how much extra footage there is — Cameron claims there’s about 10 to 12 minutes of scenes that he could toss right back into the film, whereas IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond claims there’s 40 extra minutes. However, an IMAX analog theater can’t handle a film over 170 minutes, so even if Cameron has 40 minutes of unused footage, he can only add 10 or 12 to come in under the IMAX limitations.

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It was an interesting show for the Oscars this year.  From the “Kanye” moment to Sean Penn somewhat proudly proclaiming he’s not part of the Academy.  Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (The Blind Side) the very same year she accepted a Razzie for Worst Actress (All About Steve).  And, of course, the gross upset of Avatar at the hands of The Hurt Locker.  With 41 million viewers, this year’s Oscars had something for everyone but, perhaps more interestingly, it best reflected the two sides of Hollywood which exist today.

How fitting to have two hosts on the one Oscar night that would truly exemplify both faces of Hollywood.  For so long many have seen Hollywood as one massive, filmmaking entity but that really isn’t the case.  Now more than ever there’s a division between what I’m calling (for the purposes of this article) “mainstream” Hollywood and “performance” Hollywood.  The names pretty much say it all.

Films in the mainstream category are all the summer blockbusters, tent pole movies studios rely on to turn a healthy profit year over year (e.g. Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Avatar).  In contrast you have the performance pictures, lesser known films with limited release and all too often far less money behind them (e.g. Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker).  These are two very different types of films, each vying for the attention of movie goers.

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The Winners

Just call her the giant slayer. Kathryn Bigelow and her modest little Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker beat out the behemoth box office champ Avatar for best picture, best director, best original screenplay, best editing, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. Bigelow made history, becoming the first female ever to win the award for directing.

James Cameron and company (Avatar) left with a total of three trophies: best visual effects, best art direction and best cinematography. The cinematography award seemed a little odd. After all, most of this film was computer generated, wasn’t it?

There were no real surprises in the acting categories. Best supporting actress went to Mo’nique for Precious, best supporting actor Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds, best actress was Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, and Jeff Bridges finally won for Crazy Heart.

Up won best animated feature and best original score, while El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina) won best foreign picture. The Cove won best documentary. For an expanded list of major category winners, scroll to the bottom of the article.

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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are once again joined by Elisabeth Rappe to discuss all things Oscar. With the Academy Awards airing this Sunday, the team discusses the nominees, argues about who might take home a statue, makes their predictions and generally has a great time.

So, fire up your iPod or browser, get your list of nominees ready, listen to the show and follow along and see if your picks match those of our team. Of course, be sure to catch the Oscars live on Sunday, March 7th at 8/5 Pacific on ABC.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

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We’ve been known to be kind of hard on James Cameron’s Avatar, given how much money and praise it’s gotten over the past two months. Given that, there are some die-hards still out there that believe that “Pandora” is the greatest place in existence, and wish it was real. Leave it to the internet to find a way to make that humorous.

Many people have become aware of the lives of LARPers over the past few years. Some even got to see a few films, including Role Models and the little-known Darkon. It’s basically acting out a scenario that most people play using dice and boards, such as Masquerade or Dungeons and Dragons. This time, the focus is set on Pandora and the Na’vi.

After the jump, check out what a group of Hometree Wisconsin pulled together using toilet paper, wigs, and tons of blue face paint. This is all your fault, James Cameron.

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This week on the radar we’ve got news on Steven Spielberg’s potential return to dinosaurs, the status of the third Mortal Kombat film, NBC gets a Gold in the ratings competition, and what comic book legend may show up on one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory.

Let’s see what blips are on the radar this week.

Boba Fett, finally the deadliest action figure in a galaxy far, far away

If you’re like me, you grew up on the first generation of Star Wars toys and action figures. You know the ones, they had a massive (sarcasm) five points of articulation. Well, one figure that was sort of an urban legend was the missile-firing Boba Fett.  We all heard of it, but rarely saw it.  Well, now it can be yours with the purchase of five other figures!  Offer expires 3/31/2011, while supplies last, only valid in US and Canada…and a whole lot of other legal fine print I’m sure.

Tron: Legacy viral campaign starts to gear up

Disney teased everyone at last year’s Comic Con about a Tron viral campaign. With the highly anticipated film set to open this December online viral goodness have started to trickle out.  The first is a new site with a somewhat enigmatic theme to it.  Can you figure out what it is?  I don’t want to ruin it, but if you must know check this link out.

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It should come as no surprise that actor Bill Paxton knows James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow pretty well. After all, he’s been featured in most of Cameron’s films including Aliens, The Terminator, True Lies and Titanic and starred in Bigelow’s vampire film Near Dark. He even worked with both Cameron and Bigelow on a music video for his band Martini Ranch oh so many years ago.

So it’s been kinda odd that nobody has talked to Paxton about both Cameron and Bigelow, especially as the two directors used to be married and are both nominated for Best Director Academy Awards this year. Fortunately, the folks at The Jimmy Fallon Show have seen fit to remedy this situation with an interview of Paxton, which we’ve got the video of to share with you today.

As Paxton is a friend of both directors and owes much of his career to Cameron in particular, he doesn’t really spill the dirt and give us anything particularly revolutionary. Still, it’s interesting to hear him speak about a subject, and two people, he knows so well.

Check out the video after the break.

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I swear I heard my keyboard purr when I typed that headline. Those of us who cover weekly box office totals have been in a rut for seven weeks, and like it or loathe it, Dear John gives us something new to talk about.

Despite tepid reviews, Dear John shocked prognosticators by soundly beating Avatar this weekend. Dear John hauled in $32 Million to win the weekend over Avatar, which made an additional $23.6 Million.

I didn’t see Dear John, but I do find it interesting that everyone continues to underestimate the female ticket draw. The book by Nicholas Sparks was very popular, and currently boasts a 4.5 reader’s rating on Barnes and Noble’s web site. Didn’t Hollywood learn anything from New Moon? Rabid female book fans = box office gold.

Side note, I was shocked to receive an email from my very own parents, who have not seen a movie in the theater in over 5 years, sharing that they saw a matinee of Avatar in 3D and loved it. I quote, “We both wanted to live in that forest.”  Um, what?

This coming from a couple who still enjoys dial-up internet. They voluntarily donned 3D glasses because they felt that this movie just had to be seen. I only mention this because this is precisely why the movie has made so much money.  There are people going to see it that don’t ever go to movies, and that is quite a feat.

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The ’80’s were an interesting time for many reasons. One of the main ones was the burgeoning music video scene where any band that was trying to “make it” made a video. One such band was Martini Ranch, fronted by a young Bill Paxton. And yes, they made a video.

The difference here is that the video was directed by James Cameron and featured not only Paxton but Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, Adrian Pasdar and Cameron’s future wife, director Kathryn Bigelow. In the video you are treated to Paxton as he rides into a typically dusty western town where in typical fashion coffins are being assembled, a beefy lady blacksmith works and prostitutes assemble on the balcony of the local whore house. Paxton then pays a visit to the saloon and said house of ill repute.

But the fun doesn’t end there when Bigelow and her posse hit town and interrupt Paxton’s fun by slipping a CD of the song, entitled “Reach”, into a player. From that point forward, it’s on. In truth, words cannot adequately describe just how cheesy this video is. After all, it was the ’80’s.

Check out this masterpiece after the jump. Thanks goodness the ’80’s are over.

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The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced this morning. This is the first year that the Best Picture category has been expanded to ten films. Here is a list of the major category nominees.

For a complete list of all nominees, visit the official site of the Oscars. The Awards take place on Sunday, March 7 at 8/5P on ABC.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibie, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia

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