The official trailer for The Debt has debuted. Check it out after the jump:

The Debt tells the story of three Mossad spies (Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas) who attempt to capture and bring to trial the Surgeon of Birkenau, a Nazi war criminal, but something goes wrong. 30 years later, the doctor resurfaces, and the they (Hellen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Wilkinson) must relive the trauma from so long ago. John Madden directs a Matthew Vaughn & Jane Goldman and Peter Straughan script, which is a remake of the film Ha-Hov by Assaf Bernstein and Ido Rosenblum.

This is the first I’ve seen of this film, and it has me really looking forward to it. When I first read about the movie, it sounded like another Sam Worthington-lead action flick, which was not appealing. This is definitely not another Clash of the Titans. I love the split narrative, with the adults reliving what happened to them 30 years ago and it doesn’t appear to be simple flashbacks. I hope the story unfolds from both time periods at once. This film has potential to be a fantastic spy thriller.

The Debt hits theaters October 10th.

In an unsurprising move, Fox revealed that Avatar will be re-released on August 27th to theaters around the country.

James Cameron has added eight minutes of deleted scenes back into the movie, which seems a little weird. He had previously stated that there were over 20 minutes of material that didn’t make it into the final cut. However, as Steve Weintraub of Collider pointed out, originally Avatar was 162 minutes long. The IMAX format can only support films up to 170 minutes long. (due to the large film, I presume) Basically, Cameron was limited by the format.

I am still amazed at the success of this movie. I mean, everyone went to see it. Its audience transcended every barrier: age, gender, it didn’t matter. Avatar made 2,730,829,876 in worldwide box office. Anyway, come August, that number will only get closer to 3 billion.

Here’s Fox’s official press release:

On August 27, return to Pandora and re-experience James Cameron’s History-Making Epic film, with more than Eight Minutes of Never Before Seen Footage- exclusively in Digital 3D and IMAX® 3D. Since – and largely as of result of – AVATAR’s release last December, the number of available digital 3D screens has exploded, and moviegoers who missed experiencing the film in 3D, as well as fans that want to return to Pandora again, will now have that opportunity. The Oscar® and Golden Globe® winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in over $2.7 billion in worldwide box office. It is also the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time.

So, if you somehow missed it the first time, or just want to see the film again as it was intended to be viewed, make sure you get out in late August for a sure-fire spectacular end to this summer movie season.

Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are actually moving ahead with the sequel to mixed-reviewed Clash of the Titans, which could be expected as early as spring 2012.

Louis Leterrie will not direct this time, instead sitting in the Executive Producer’s chair. Most critics blamed Leterrie for the problems in the first film (there’s a reason it’s only scored a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes), so this seems to be for the best. Greg Berlanti (creator of tv series Everwood and Eli Stone) is working on the story line, and studio execs are looking for writers and directors to hone the project.

Sam Worthington is slated to return, as is every character who happened to still be alive at the end of the first film. Plans are to start filming before Worthington is busy with Avatar 2.

The plot for the sequel remains unknown.

We have heard all of the hype surrounding a possible Avatar 2 film, but do we know more than that? Well Zoe Saldana told some folks that she may know more than most of us know.

She had the following to say about a few items relating to Avatar 2, or whatever it will be released as.

“He already knows how I like to approach it,” Saldana said. “I need at least 6 to 7 months of training and stuff to get into Neytiri again and whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.”

Saldana spent four years learning and practicing the motion capture performance style as well as the basic skills for a nature native. She’ll keep that experience, but it still requires prep time.

“It does take training,” she said. “It’s not something that I can just turn on and off. Everything is a learned skill. The same way it took me like 2 to 3 months to channel Aisha, you know Neytiri is going to take her time as well. I mean, there are people we are kind of incarnating. It takes a little bit of preparation.”

So what we have here is a little fuel to get the fire started back up. A flame to start the rumor mill up again. While Zoe let’s us all know what it takes to get ready, she says nothing about when, or who, or anything else.

A great piece of news for us wanting Avatar 2 to happen sooner rather than later, but with all of the moving pieces we are going to be waiting a while. With Zoe and Sam becoming more and more popular, filming of other movies and those schedules may interfere with a push from the Studios to align with the moons of Pandora to get this green-lit and fast.

What do you all think? Do we need an Avatar 2 so soon? Would you rather Cameron create some new technology “again” to film the sequel?

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Going into this movie you know from the get go what is going to happen and for the most part how the movie will unfold. So as most people would ask, why would I see a story/movie I already know or have seen. Why did you all go see Titanic? It’s for the story, for the characters, for the amazement of that story brought to life. Unfortunately for us the story from the 1981 movie is the same today as it was then.

Clash of the Titans falls flat from the get go. The character building is rushed, the CG effects are poor in many places along with many other small misses in the big scheme of things. Wanting this movie to do well and to expect much of it was something on my mind throughout the lead up to the screening. I must say I need to start setting my sights lower and be pleasantly surprised by films.

Without character development you have nothing but a pretty face in Gemma Arterton and a strong young lad in Sam Worthington. I want to sit here an unfold a story that you haven’t heard of before, the one of a jealous God who has affairs with humans and his weak brother who births the Kraken. A story of great historical value and something to admire. This is not that story, or movie! The characters are not ones you feel for, or ones you would follow into battle or even care if they all die at the end.  This is where the movie gods fail us as the viewer. There is no substance in the world of the titans, just a lot of clashing.

The story unfolds in the same way it did in the original, we follow the ever stud of a demi-god Perseus on a no win journey to defeat the Kracken. Along the way we see some very interesting characters in the witches, the crazy blue rock faced guys, the Kraken is impressive for the small on screen time we see it. Overall the story unfolds too flat and almost too quickly to enjoy or get into it all.

While the natural sets and some of the CG is impressive and sometime vast, the casting and the story has so much to gain. The acting is subpar even for a movie such as this. We have seen the battle speeches so many times before, we have heard the cry’s of women and children before. This is not different in any way. Fresh faces and pretty actresses is all this movie has going for it in the end.

The 3D in my eyes was rushed and not done well at all. I saw nothing that was necessary to make this a 3d film. The fault may of come in during the post production 3d process and not the filming. But I was wanting the Kraken and Pegasus to come right at me. Nada…

The story left me wondering why if at all I could care for any of these characters. The soul of this movie, the characters, was gone long before the times of Zeus and the Kraken.

A possible DVD rental.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Yahoo! just released yet another behind-the-scenes look at director Louis Letterier’s (The Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) upcoming remake of the 1981 cult-classic mythology epic Clash Of The Titans.

The video focuses most heavily on the insane action and special effects that will bring all of the mythic characters to life, including the mighty gods of Olympus as well the legendary creatures such as Medusa and the winged Pegasus. Stars Liam Neeson, Ralph Finnes, Sam Worthington, and Gemma Arterton all speak about the crazy stunts and visual effects work.

Take a look:

Warner Brothers’ official site for the adventure epic describes the film thusly:

In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits men against kings and kings against gods. But the war between the gods themselves could destroy the world. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Sam Worthington) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson) and unleash hell on Earth. Leading a daring band of warriors, Perseus sets off on a perilous journey deep into forbidden worlds. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, he will only survive if he can accept his power as a god, defy his fate and create his own destiny.

This definitely sounds like something of a departure from the original film, as well as from the ancient Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda, which revolves mainly around an angry sea god raising the Krakken and Perseus seeking the head of Medusa to defeat it. The original movie is a classic of sorts, mostly in the field of visual effects, as stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen created the infinitely memorable monsters.

So let’s hear what you think about the new Clash. Should the filmmakers have stuck closer to the original myth and movie or do you think the new, action-packed approach will rock?

After this weekend’s Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief  brought the colorful world of Greek mythology back to the big screen, I think the stage has been perfectly set for Louis Letterier’s Clash of the Titans remake. Percy featured several of the same big players (Zeus, Hades, Medusa) and plays a like a training wheels version of this story.

It also placed second in this weekend’s box office with an estimated 31 million dollars, which I imagine Titans will easily demolish upon it’s release.

About that release; it appears that now Clash will undergo a 3-D transfer process (not as optimal as filming it that way to start with) that will postpone it’s opening by another week. Now Perseus and his crew are setting sail on April 2nd, a day before my birthday. Seeing the mighty Kraken and the winged Pegasus in 3-D will be a great way to celebrate.

To tide all the movie buffs over until that day, we’ve been given a new featurette that includes a few of the stars (Worthington, Neeson and Fiennes) talking about their characters and the movie’s monsters. Since those monsters were the absolute best reason to watch the original, it’s nice to see them front and center in the video.

Specifically, I’m intrigued by Medusa, who keeps most of her creepy serpentine design but gains some speed and agility that the stop-motion creation never had. The Kraken looks spectacular as well; the one real improvement here over the predecessor is the perspective on the monster that gives us a sense of just how big and overwhelming this brute really is.

I don’t expect this one to replace the original in my affections because Harryhausen’s critters have a personality that is hard to beat. I do know, that for the first time in a long time, I’m actually excited by the prospect of seeing a remake at the theaters. Let the Clash begin!

Stay tuned to Atomic Popcorn this week when I take a look back at that original film and the myths and monsters it contains. Until then, check out the featurette for the remake:

After a couple of quite shiny trailers for Louis Letterier’s Clash of the Titans remake, it’s become clear that the new film definitely remembers its origins. For children of the 80′s who had the original burned into their memory banks, all of the main players are there; Zeus, Perseus, Medusa, Pegasus, The Kraken.

What has remained more elusive through these rock-heavy fx montages is what story the new picture is trying to tell. With quick flashes of an angry Zeus and taglines like ‘Damn the Gods’, it was suggested that in this variation Worthington as Perseus would be fighting against, not for, Mt. Olympus.

Now we have a new international trailer that keeps most of the same beats as that last U.S. one, but offers up more in the way of plot particulars. Here we have Zeus growling ‘This is the end’ and Andromeda defiantly proclaiming ‘The gods need us. They need our worship. What do we need from them?’

The rest of the trailer keeps up with the others by featuring the usual array of battles, monsters and crumbling statues. And Ralph Fiennes is getting his name in the credits at last! Of all the recent remakes this is one of the few that has my attention. Sign me up on March 26th.