With the advent of the internet buying tickets to movies becomes more and more like buying tickets to concerts, and I don’t mean the inflated prices. When an event film comes out and you know you want to experience it with the midnight or opening day crowds you can by your tickets way ahead of time.

Lots of people are doing just that for the first ever major ‘Cross-over Event’ Film. According to MovieTickets.com the presale ticket numbers for The Avengers are larger than all the other Marvel Studio films… COMBINED:

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is pre-selling more tickets for the upcoming release than the online ticketing company sold for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, THOR, IRON MAN 2, and IRON MAN combined at the same point in the sales cycle for each film.  In fact, pre-sales of MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS is over one and a half times that of these past Marvel films combined sales at the same point in the sales cycle.

You can check out the bigger break down of how far ahead The Avengers is after the jump.

Those who are glued to what Marvel Studios is doing with their story leading up to next year’s Avengers film know that Agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) is the glue that ties all of the films together.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is the man that find’s Thor’s hammer, babysits Tony Stark, and helps wake up Captain America is the one who is able to hold our hands as we get ready for things to get heavy in Avengers next year.

Attached the the Blu-Ray and DVD release of Thor next week, Marvel is taking Coulson’s “glue” to another level with a series of shorts titled Marvel One-Shots in which Coulson literally ties the films together in short and comical scenes.

In the most recent short, titled A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thor’s Hammer, things get a bit violent for Coulson as he treks through the desert of New Mexico.

Take a look at the teaser for the short after the jump, and catch the full thing on the Thor Blu-Ray and DVD, out next Tuesday.

Now that this year’s superhero season is safely in our rear view mirrors, it’s time to look forward…to next year’s superhero flicks! One of the big ones is obviously going to be The Avengers which hits mid year.

With that, Marvel is getting us ready for the epic flick with an awesome series of shorts to connect films like Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger to the upcoming film about the superteam. We heard a while back about these shorts, titled Marvel One-Shots, in which S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) helps tie all of the films in together.

Now that Marvel’s first of two films from this year, Thor, is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray on September 13th, we’re getting a first taste of the release’s One-Shot in which Coulson has to enlist “The Consultant” in order to get Gener “Thunderbolt” Ross to help out the Avengers.

Now we’re getting the tie-ins that we’ve been making up in our heads since Marvel’s strategy to tie all of their films together began, and you get a first glimpse right now!

Check out the clip from the short after the jump, and catch the full mini-movie on the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Thor, in stores on September 13th.

Those who grew up in the 80s remember the classic pro-earth propaganda cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers fondly. Whether it was living through the Planeteer that you related to the most, or just being a huge fan of a superhero that turned grime into healthy plants, the show was a nostalgic hit.

Most recently, there have been more and more rumblings that a live-action film based on the adventures of Captain Planet and how he would clean up our current society in their polluted, disrespectful ways.

We’re a few years away from seeing anything happen with this film, but that hasn’t stopped world-renowned actor Don Cheadle from putting together a web short in which he shows how he’d play the character. Here’s a hint, it’s not as campy as it was 20 years ago.

Check out the Funny or Die short after the jump, and see if you can find some pretty cool cameos in the video as well (perhaps a Community student and friend of Napoleon Dynamite?). Let’s hope that the studio sees this and takes Cheadle’s take on the hero to heart.

This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.