CINEMA BuzzFEED - 25 October 2013

And We Thought They Were Dead

Steve Lang as Col. Quaritch

Avatar sequels 2, 3, & 4 scheduled for release between December 2016 - December 2018  will return with characters which we were thought to believe were dead.  Both Steven Lang (who portrays the cruel Col. Quaritch) and Sigourney Weaver (who plays head exobiologist Grace Augustine) will be returning in some form in the sequels.

It's rumored that Lang will appear as Quaritch in all three sequels.  We last saw Col. Quaritch at the end of Avatar with two arrows in his chest - but apparently he lives on. Weaver's character, who we thought died and went to Pandora heaven - also lives on.

The movie's star, Sam Worthington, who plays disabled soldier Jake Sully in the original film, revealed last week that Avatar 2 will began shooting in October 2014  with most of the original cast.  James Cameron with assist from Josh Friedman (Terminator), Rich Jaffa and Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Shaft, Savages) have started scripting the new films.  CMG was told that Cameron plans on filming with never before used techniques of underwater motion capture for the sequels.  Good luck guys.

Not Ready For The Oscars

Directing and acting in the WWII thriller 'The Monuments Men', George Clooney fully expected to be nominated in several Oscar categories.  The much touted movie deals with an Allied military unit charged with rescuing works of art from the Nazis.  This will be Clooney's fifth directorial project and deemed to be his best thus far. The film's cast includes: Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bill Murray, and John Goodman.

However, this week Clooney abruptly revealed that the planned pre-Christmas release of the film had to be postponed and reset with an unspecified date in the first quarter of 2014.  Clooney stated that he could not complete the complicated visual effects shots. "We just didn't have enough time. If even one of the effects looked cheesy, the whole movie would look cheesy.  We simply don't have enough people to work enough hours to finish it."

The Monuments Men is not the first movie to postpone their December release date.  Recently, wrestling drama 'Foxcatcher' with Steve Carell and Channing Tatum had its December 20th release put off.  As did, biopic 'Grace of Monaco' which has now been moved to a March 2014 release.

Looking for a good movie to watch, while waiting for Monuments Men, which addresses saving art works from the Nazis during WWII, view 'The Train', starring Bert Lancaster. Note: The Train had not one but two great directors: John Frankenheimer, and Arthur Penn.

Moviegoers & TV Viewers Are Aging

According to Nielsen Ratings, the viewers of both movies and TV shows are aging. Based upon Nielsen's annual 'Popcorn Profile' study the average age of a moviegoer is 35 - split almost equally between females and males, with the 45-74 age group making up over one-third of admissions.

TV audiences are even more skewed (see chart below) with an average viewer age of 43.  "There has been a real graying of TV", Brad Algate, analyst with Horizon Media, told CGM.  "Older people watch more television, while younger people have gravitated to on-line media sources. And this trend will continue as our population is aging."   For example, two TV shows which have the youngest audience are 'The Walking Dead' (AMC) average viewer 32.3 years, and FX's 'American Horror Story' with an average viewer 35.3 years.  Two shows with the oldest viewers are 'Blue Bloods' (CBS) at 62.8 years and 'Dancing With The Stars' (ABC) at 62.1 years.

New shows with the oldest median age:     New shows with the youngest median age:
1. Ironside (NBC) 58.9                                1. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) 41.4
2. Hostages (CBS) 56.3                               2. Dads (FOX) 44.5
3. The Crazy Ones (CBS) 55.4                    3. Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. (ABC) 46.4
4. The Millers (CBS) 54.8                           4. Super Fun Night (ABC) 47.4
5. Betrayal (ABC) 54.7                                5. Sleepy Hollow (FOX) 48.1


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Jim Lavorato