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I'm sure I'm not the only person who likes Doug Liman's Mr. & Mrs. Smith. But I might be the only person who considers it a masterpiece. The problem is, I don't really know how to defend it without sounding like a bad combo of fanboy and academic. Saying it's the best action movie interpretation of the comedy of remarriage subgenre since Twister surely isn't bringing anyone to my side, even if they are fans of both Twister and classic screwball comedies of the '30s and '40s.

Regardless of my inability to properly convince people of how perfect Mr. & Mrs. Smith is, I'm sure I can get enough people to agree with me that Fox should not dismiss the film by trying again with a sort of remake/reboot. According to Vulture, the production company New Regency, which operates out of the Fox lot and through its distribution, and original producer Akiva Goldsmith are hoping for a new franchise this time around with a prequel/origins movie (now titled Mr. and Mrs. Jones) that recasts the title characters, originally played by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

"Damn the Gods"? Nah, more like "Damn the Suits" who opted to give Clash of the Titans a 3-D upgrade in the wake of Avatar's popularity, unaware or unfazed by the fact that A) that film was actually shot for 3-D, not just given layers in post-production, and B) that film didn't succeed massively because of star Sam Worthington (no offense, fella).

So Warner Bros. has bought themselves a week, moving Clash back from March 26th to April 2nd in order to capitalize on Easter weekend and give How to Train Your Dragon a whopping week before squeezing in on its 3-D screens. This move has left other studios to scramble to avoid competition (or fill the gap left behind), and so far as B.O.M. is concerned, here's how things have settled at the moment:

• Fox's family-friendly Diary of a Wimpy Kid has moved to March 19th from 4/2
• Universal's sci-fi actioner, Repo Men, has moved to March 19th from 4/2
• MGM's raunchy romp, Hot Tub Time Machine, has moved to March 26th from 3/19
• Disney's Nicholas Sparks/Miley Cyrus vehicle, The Last Song, opens on March 31 instead of 4/2
• Summit's kiddie comedy, Furry Vengeance, has moved to April 30th from 4/2

In an unrelated move, Screen Gems' Takers (which was supposed to open this month once upon a time) has moved to August 20th, instead of going right up against Universal's Robin Hood in mid-May. They may be thieves, but they ain't about to steal money from Russell Crowe, believe me you.

Poor McG. At this time last year, he was the king of the world! Terminator: Salvation was rumored to be the coolest movie of the summer, and he was raking in franchise deals like there was no tomorrow. But there was, and it's now, but he may finally be stepping behind the camera again for a genre miles away from Judgment Day -- a romantic comedy. According to Variety, McG is in talks to direct This Means War, a romantic spy comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Bradley Cooper.

This Means War has been through the rewrite mill for a couple of years, and its latest incarnation (penned by Timothy Dowling) is a delightful romp where two spies are lifelong friends until they fall for the same woman. Presumably they then try to kill each other using nasty, slick covert methods like cyanide capsules and thin wires you can hide in a sleeve. The girl's preferences, of course, will not factor into their bitter rivalry. It never does! (I wouldn't be surprised if Gerard Butler is the third corner of the triangle, since the tabloids claim to have spotted him lunching with Witherspoon. Those are the kind of rumblings that preceded The Bounty Hunter.)

Fox is desperate to get the film off the ground, and wants to begin shooting by late spring. If McG is as eager to return to the director's chair, expect the wheels to start turning immediately.

I think it's safe to say that Avatar has had a prettttty good run so far, but yesterday...yesterday was kismet. It's been breaking records (and hearts) left and right for weeks now, but on February 2nd it toppled its last big obstacle: Titanic's all-time domestic box office record. As of this morning, Avatar has made about $300,000 more than the decade-plus record holder, which is to say it's sitting on approximately $601.2mil at the US box office.

What's so amazing about that, aside from the obvious, is that Avatar took the crown on the very same day that it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. And those are two things that many, many people thought would never happen. I don't know about you, but my hat is off to Cameron.

It's too early to tell if Pandoran lightning will strike twice for the director, but in a recent conference call for Fox's parent company News Corp, CEO Rupert Murdoch told shareholders that the studio had indeed entered into early talks with Cameron about Avatar 2. There are no details or commitments at this point beyond Cameron having ideas and the studio having the desire to see them realized.

And in final news, the same earnings report revealed that Avatar will be arriving on DVD and Blu-ray before the end of News Corp's fiscal year. That means fans can expect to take a trip to Pandora from the comfort of their couches at some point before June 30th. However, and this is kind of a surprise, but the initial retail release will not be available in 3D. Fellow News Corp honcho Chase Carey doesn't believe that home theater tech is ready to do Avatar justice (something I'm inclined to agree with), so they'll be holding off on the extra dimension until TVs catch up.

Diehard fans of the Alien quadrilogy are bound to know the history behind this story, but casual fans might be surprised to learn that H.R. Giger, the Swiss artist who designed the iconic xenomorph at the center of the franchise, was never asked to be involved with James Cameron's Aliens. His designs from the first film were obviously the inspiration for the designs in the action-heavy follow-up, but Cameron's team never contacted the artist for input in regards to how they'd be (re)shaping his legacy.

While the film was in production, Giger's agent sent a letter to Cameron expressing his disappointment at being frozen out of the creative process. It then took Cameron nearly a year to respond to the letter, but instead of making up excuses for why he felt Giger shouldn't be involved, Cameron explained in earnest a fear most sequel directors may have but never share:

"I found that creating a sequel can be an uneasy exercise in balancing creative impulses, the desire to create a whole new canvas, with the need to pay proper hommage to the original. Mr. Giger's visual stamp was so powerful and pervasive in "ALIEN" (a major contributor to its success, I believe) that I felt the risk of being overwhelmed by him and his world, if we had brought him into a production where in a sense, he had more reason to be there than I did."

The entirety of the letter is available for viewing at H.R. Giger's personal website and worth reading for a different kind of insight into the mindset of one of the most talked about directors still working today. An equally interesting read can be found in the article that turned me on to the letter in the first place; Dread Central's interview with artist Dan Ouellette who feels his concept design contributions to Sundance favorite Splice will never be properly credited to him.

That's right, the dreaded R-word is back, and this time it's aimed at a certain simian planet. A little over a year ago, there were rumblings that Fox was looking to reboot the Planet of The Apes franchise after the disastrous 2001 film by Tim Burton. But, before you could say 'damn you all to Hell,' the project was seemingly dead in the water. Well, it looks like we may have spoken too soon, because according to an exclusive in NY Magazine, the flick is alive and well at Fox. According to them, not only if Fox still keen on getting the film into production, they have handed the reigns to Peter Chernin (a former Fox News Corp head, who has made the leap to producer) in hopes of getting the flick into high gear.

Most of us had assumed that the project was headed for the scrap heap when Scott Frank (Minority Report) walked away from the production, but Vulture's sources are claiming that Fox has, "hired writer Jamie Moss (Street Kings) to rework Frank's version, and the original writers, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (The Relic, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle), were recently brought back to polish the dialog." According to Vulture, Frank walked away from the film when his original vision for a prequel on just how those apes got so crafty in the first place, was rejected by the studio. Frank's script centered on the genetic experiments that create a 'super-ape' by the name of Cesar who led his hairy brethren to rise up against their human captors, but now that some new writers are on the scene, I expect we'll see a few changes in Frank's original vision.

Remember, nothing is official yet, so stay tuned for any updates that come our way. But, what do you think, do those damn, dirty apes deserve one more shot at the big screen? Sound off in the comments...

By all accounts, Tooth Fairy is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's last family film for a while, which means that yours truly and the rest of the fans of The Rundown will hopefully soon see this decade's definitive action star soon kick ass again. As heir apparent to the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone both in terms of physique and personal charm, he has understandably detoured into projects that introduce him to different audiences -- as they did. But because of the rabid energy of contemporary fandom, 360 degree stardom seems more threatening now than it did then, if only because it takes our heroes away from us and gives them to someone else, at least temporarily; meanwhile, Johnson's particular efforts to curry fandom from the pre-teen set have thus far been lackluster at best, even if there's something strangely charming about him gamely sending up his own tough-guy image.

Tooth Fairy is the latest in his recent line of family comedies, and like its predecessors, it's a mediocre but largely inoffensive chapter in Johnson's crusade to charm kids. He plays Derek, a hockey player sentenced to serve time as a real tooth fairy after attempting to crush the imagination of his girlfriend Carly's (Ashley Judd) daughter. Slowly discovering the value of wondering "what if," Derek slowly blossoms into a buff barterer of bicuspids, but finds his own dreams dissolving when a prodigious newcomer named Mick (Ryan Sheckler) threatens to overshadow him out on the ice. Ultimately, it takes a domineering full-time fairy named Lily (Julie Andrews), a wannabe tooth–taking pencil-pusher named Tracy (Stephen Merchant), and the fairies' Q-like inventor Jerry (Billy Crystal) to push, prod and provoke Derek into becoming the best tooth fairy possible, hopefully in the process inspiring him to excellence elsewhere.

Anyone who doesn't expect Robert Pattinson to have much of a career beyond the Twilight franchise, or at least a quality one, may be proven wrong by his potential casting in Fox 2000's adaptation of Water for Elephants. According to Variety, the actor is "circling" the film, along with Sean Penn, who could hopefully be a good influence on Pattinson's acting skills. Both men would join the already cast Reese Witherspoon in the film, which is based on Sara Gruen's best-selling historical novel and will be directed by I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence.

The book, which is being adapted by Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King), is set during the Great Depression, specifically in a circus. It tells the story of a last-minute veterinary school dropout who finds himself caring for the animal performers of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth following the death of his parents. I'm assuming Pattinson will play the 23-year-old lead, while Penn would play the abusive animal trainer, August. And Witherspoon is likely August's wife, who Pattinson's character falls for.

I know I'm one of the few people who saw Pattinson's portrayal of Salvador Dali in Little Ashes. And even fewer, I'm one of those who thought he did an impressive job, in spite of all its intentionally hammy silliness. I may not be able to stomach his little vampire series, but I'll come out and admit I see great things in his future, of which Water for Elephants could be another big step in the right direction. I mean, if he doesn't really bring it here, he's going to look pretty terrible opposite the talents of Penn and Witherspoon (as anyone would), so at least he better try to prove his worth as an actor.

When I walked out of Avatar, I thought to myself, "Wow, James Cameron has done a lot of acid, and then he spent enough money to bring us with him on his trip." I've never done hallucinogens, but after over two hours of Avatar I felt like I had. Sure, it has plenty of problems, but Avatar with all the bells and whistles is an experience. One that, apparently, struck some moviegoers so deeply it left them depressed and, in some cases, suicidal to "leave" Pandora.

What struck me most as far as the story itself -- probably one of the most interesting parts of the story, as far as I was concerned -- was that Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) compares the connection between the Na'vi and their planet to a brain or a computer network.

According to the script (download the PDF here), Augustine tells Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), "What we think we know - is that there's some kind of electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees. Like the synapses between neurons. Each tree has ten to the fourth connections to the trees around it, and there are ten to the twelfth trees on Pandora... That's more connections than the human brain. You get it? It's a network - a global network. And the Na'vi can access it - they can upload and download data - memories..." (p. 102)

The one thing you can count on in the world of fandom is that there is someone out there who will take it a little too far: enter The 'Avatard'. Like their much-maligned cousins, the Twihards, Avatards are devoted fans of the world of James Cameron's fantasy action, and its inhabitants, The Na'vi. They paint themselves up, organize facebook pages and fan sites, and if you take a quick look around the net you'll find wikis going into obsessive details of Hometree schematics, Na'vi Yourself applications, 3D Pandora chat rooms, and handy guides to speaking Na'vi. But not everyone is feeling the love ...

In an article by Andrew Pulver over at the Guardian, he questions the devotion to a film that by his standards is "a Yes album cover come to life." And while I don't share his opinion, I can't help but empathize with the feeling of not understanding what all the fuss is about. There is no doubt about it, Cameron made a technical masterpiece, and the movie is a first rate 'popcorn' flick (even though a few elements of it were a tad 'recycled' ), but using the film as a tool of social and political commentary? Not on your 'tìrey'.

As cultural phenomena go, Avatar has definitely hit the big time (you know things are big when there's even a psychological syndrome associated with the film). According to CNN, a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope." -- and you thought those Twihards were nuts ... brother, we ain't seen nothing yet.

Now I'll turn it over to you out there: are you a self-professed Avatard, or, like me, are you starting to think that we are all taking this film a little too seriously? Sound off below...