They are:

Avatar (pictured)

District 9

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Star Trek

Terminator Salvation

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

2012

Three of these will be announced as the nominees during a broadcast on Tuesday, February 2nd at 5:30 am (PT). The Awards broadcast will follow on Sunday, March 7.

Terminator: Salvation, the fourth installment of the legendary Terminator franchise, picked up where the disappointing Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines left off: machines eradicating the remaining humans, John Connor leading the resistance and searching for Kyle Reese (the man who will be his father…gotta love time travel!), and the unexpected appearance of Marcus Wright, whose allegiance is in question. While it wasn’t a bomb, it was bashed by the critics and performed worse than the others in the franchise, but now we’ll see how it does in DVD sales.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian is basically the same story in a new place. Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) must travel to the Smithsonian to save his pals (the exhibits from the American Museum of Natural History), and even the entire world, from the evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah, who plans to steal the Tablet of Ahkmenrah to raise an army to conquer the world! Larry and his son Nick team up with General George Armstrong Custer (Bill Hader) and Amelia Earhart (Amy Adams) to defeat this evil and save the day.

In the Television world, Better Off Ted hits the shelves this week. A delightful comedy starring , Better Off Ted follows the day to day workings at Veridian Dynamic, a huge corporation that utilizes the most “brilliant” scientists and state of the art technology to push into the impossible. Whether it be creating a plate that can cook your food, growing meat in a lab, or cryogenically freezing a co-worker, Veridian Dynamic is up for the task!

And finally, in the Blu-ray column we have Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Gremlins, The Mask of Zorro and The Green Mile.

The Hangover continues to stack the chips dropping a spot, but falling only 18.1% with a weekend total of $26.8 million. The film has grossed $152.9 million in three weeks.

Pixars Up grossed $21.3 million, and has flown into $224.1 million in four weeks of release.

Opening in a week fourth  was the Jack Black/Michael Cera Old Testament comedy Year One. The Sony picture nabbed $20.2 million.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 continues its rapid decline with $11.3 million. The $100 million budgeted film was down 51.7% and has grossed a week $43.3 million to date.

Night at the Museum 2 hit $7.3 million and finally passed it’s budget of $150 million.

Star Trek held in the seventh spot with $4.7 million. The Paramount reboot was down a mere 13.8% and has a seven week take of $239.4 million.

Land of the Lost has misplaced the audience it never found and took in $3.9 million. Insert flop here.

Speaking of flops, Eddie Murphy seems to have become the king of the genre. Imagine That took in $3.1 millionand has managed a measly $11.3 million. Please Eddie get back to some crude, adult orientated movie making, we hurt for you.

And on its way out of the top ten-and it pains me to say this-is Terminator Salvation. The movie just never found an audience. With $3 million this weekend the film has grossed $119 million in five weeks, nowhere near its $200 million budget. Insert the sound of Taps playing here.

Head over to Box Office Mojo for all the detailed box office stats, and make sure to check out Transformers Revenge of the Fallen this week. I know I will.

The summer box office exploded this holiday weekend with two highly anticipated films opening head to head. Fox’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian had a three day total of $53.5 million on 4,096 screens with a per screen average of $13,062. Estimates for the four day weekend will put the film somewhere between $60-$70 million.

Another sequel/prequel-you never can tell when talking about the Terminator franchise-Terminator Salvation had a three day total of $43 million. Add in Wednesday’s midnight showings and Thursday’s opening day and the film has grossed $56.3 million. With a budget of $200 million the Warner Brothers release has a long road ahead. How the film performs overseas will make a huge difference. Personally, I loved the movie and can’t wait to see it again.

Star Trek continues to boldly go, coming in third with $22.7 million. Down 47.1% the Paramount release has beamed up $184.4 million at the domestic box office in three weeks. I smell a sequel on the horizon and I can’t wait.

Falling from its number one debut to fourth was Sony’s Angels & Demons with $21.8 million. The film is performing solidly overseas but is fading quickly in US markets. With a 52.8% decline in its second week Demons has made $81.9 million thus far.

Debuting in the fifth spot with $10.7 million was the dance film spoof Dance Flick from Paramount. Nuff said about that one.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is also fading fast. The Fox release and fourth film in the X-Men franchise took in $7.9 million and has grossed $163.2 million domestically.

Ghost’s of Girlfriends past grossed $3.8 million and was down 42.7%. Since opening four weeks ago the film has grossed $45.9 million.

The last three are hanging on by a thread. Obsessed hit $65.8 million with its weekend take of $1.97 million. Monsters vs. Aliens was close behind with $1.4 million, raising its nine week total to $193 million. And 17 Again reined in the bottom of ten with $1 million.

Look for totals to change a bit as today is a holiday. For all the mathematical details head over to Box Office Mojo. Otherwise have a great week and hope to see all of you next weekend at Monsterpalooza ’09 in Burbank, Ca.  

Another actor who stands out is Anton Yelchin as a teenaged Kyle Reese, John Conor’s father. After watching him as Chekov in Star Trek and now in Salvation, I am convinced that this kid is definitely someone to be watched. He very strongly channeled the adult Kyle Reese, played by Michael Biehn, in the first Terminator. I remember seeing him in Alpha Dog and crying my eyes out after he gets shot. Fantastic!
While the over all plot line of the film is great, there are a few things that don’t really fit. One is the strange love connection between Marcus and Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood), a resistance fighter. I’m sure it’s meant to display the fact that Marcus is still part man, but it’s awkward. I also don’t understand why John Connor is under anyone. Why isn’t he the top dog? And why does General Ashdown (Michael Ironside) kick him out of the resistance at the end? It’s unnecessary drama. And why is his wife pregnant? Is it just because Bryce Dallas Howard was pregnant so they worked it in? Must be, because it really has no other purpose. In fact, there is no purpose for her character in this film at all. I’m a bit confused that Howard would take it, because she is far above playing Mrs. Connor. Maybe her character will be more important later on in other films.
When comparing Salvation to the first two films (T3 doesn’t exist in my mind), it falls a bit flat if only because of the lack of Shwarzenegger. The first two also have that fresh new feeling, and a cult standing. Not much beats Linda Hamilton kicking ass.
A failed attempt at reconnecting Salvation with the other Terminator films was a moment when, after being kicked out of the resistance club, John Connor leaves to take on his destined mission. Kate Connor (Howard) asks what she should tell his men, and he says…”I’ll be back”. Should’ve been great. We all should have been cheering in our seats. It’s too bad that Bale delivered it so blandly. I hardly caught it, and then it took me another minute to make the connection.
McG did a great job directing, however. The action scenes were very exciting and fulfilling. And bringing back a CGI of the Governor as the Terminator was hilarious. Everyone loved that. Looks like a T5 is in the works, so lets get ready for more awesome action, human/machine hand to hand combat (which is totally unrealistic because the machines would crush our little bones instantly), and Christian Bale…again.

Hot Toys recently revealed their 100^th Movie Masterpiece figure. Originally guessed to be Kyle Reese from the upcoming Terminator: Salvation by the guys over at Cool Toy Review due to the fact that the first MMS figure was Kyle Reese from the original Terminator, Hot Toys has finally announced that the 100^th MMS figure will be none other than Marcus Wright from Terminator: Salvation.

Once again, the Hot Toys crew has outdone themselves. Listed are the specs for the upcoming figure. Check out more photos over at Cool Toy Review and start saving those pennies.

Hot Toys proudly presents the 100th of our Movie Masterpiece Series – the second human-kind MMS figure from the upcoming sci-fi movie – Terminator Salvation : 1/6th scale Marcus Wright collectible figure. The figure also features:

This collectible figure stands approximately 30 cm tall, featuring Hot Toys True-type figure body with over 36 points of articulation.

-Dressed in his movie accurate trench coat, t-shirt, pants, leather-like leggings and boots, and also interchangeable leather-like jacket.

-Accessories include harness, knife, shotgun and 3 sets of interchangeable hands.

-Interchangeable Marcus head featuring skeletal face

-Articulated and battle damaged left arm

-Authentic Sam Worthington likeness.

-Figure stand with Terminator Salvation logo and Marcus Wright nameplate

Release date: JULY – AUG, 2009

Artist info:
- Head Sculpt by GOX (Eom Jae Sung)
- Head Art Directed by JC. Hong
- Head Paint by JC.Hong
Terminator Salvation ™ & © 2009 T Asset Acquisition Company, LLC.

With an awesome new trailer showing at theatres and online, anticipation for McG’s upcoming Terminator: Salvation has rocketed off the charts, now Hot Toys is giving us yet another 1/6^th scaled figure to salivate for: Christian Bale as John Connor, and let me tell you the boys at Hot Toys have outdone themselves this time.

The following is the Hot Toys product summary and specs on the upcoming figure:

Terminator: Salvation John Connor 12 inch figure by Hot Toys

Product Specifications
License: Terminator
Product Type: 12 inch Figure
Product Size: 12″ H (304.8mm)*
Product Weight: 5.00 lbs (2.27 kg)*
Box Size: 17.00″ H (431.8mm) x 9.00″ W (228.6mm) x 6.00″ L (152.4mm)*
Est. Shipping Weight: 4.00 lbs (1.81 kg)*

Pre-Order John Connor now at Sideshow Collectables. And to check out more pictures of the figure head over to Cool Toy Review.

Manufactured by: Hot Toys.

Directed my McG, the new installment of The Terminator franchise, is set in post-apocalyptic 2018. Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

 Here are the specs for the T-600 and T-700 figures:Hot Toys – MMS 93 – Terminator Salvation: Endoskeleton T-600 collectible figure

The massive killing machine-T-600 collectible figure features :

- Approximately 35 cm / 14 inches tall
- Over 25 Points of articulations plus fully articulated fingers
- Light- up eyes ( cell button battery operated/ battery included)
- Accessories includes Gatling gun ammo pack with harness
- Movie scene featured figure base with nameplate

Release date: MAY, 2009

 Hot Toys – MMS 94 – Terminator Salvation: Endoskeleton T-700 collectible figure

The Skynet’s foot soldier – T700 collectible figure features:

- Approximately 31 cm / 12 inches tall
- Over 25 points of articulations plus fully articulated fingers and toes
- Light-up eyes ( cell button battery operated/ battery included)
- Movie scene featured figure base

with nameplate

Release date: APR, 2009

 Head over to Cool Toy Review and the Hot Toys Website to check out all the cool photos.

After an impressive taste of what’s to come in the fourth TERMINATOR film, McG took to the audience for questions.

One reporter drilled the director about the rumor that Linda Hamilton was approached to return as Sarah Connor (the mother of John Connor, the future leader of the human survivors) in SALVATION.

After chuckling to himself a bit, he asked the audience to show hands if they’d like to hear old tape recordings of Sarah Connor in the opening and ending of the film, keeping to the tradition of the TERMINATOR spirit. When the majority raised their hands, he literally flicked off the producer (in a joking manner). He did tease that it could be something we see in the final cut of the film…

On the exclusive news front, our questions wasn’t answered so we hit up McG in the lobby of the DGA, where the event took place.

Something that has been bugging this journalist for years is that the TERMINATOR franchise appears to have no end. Like many time travel films before it, the situation appears to loop over and over again. The Terminators will keep sending back more robots to kill John or Sarah, while in the future they’ll keep fighting to stop it.

When originally announced, it was said that SALVATION would kick off a brand new trilogy, meaning that there are three films planned. We asked McG that while working out the timeline and story for SALVATION if they also figured out how to tie it all together and end the franchise… for good.

His response, “Yes, we have. The films will all button up at the end of three.”

He also explained that obviously he can’t guarantee all three films will ever get made, or that he’ll return, but that in the end it’ll all come together and end the franchise once and for all.

I told him if it never gets made, we’ll have to hunt him down to find out the finale. Can you imagine if “Lost” got canceled? Yikes…

Arriving in theaters May 22, SALVATION is about John Connor (Christian Bale), now in his 30s and soon to be wife Kate Brewster realize they must create a resistance organization with Earth’s remaining survivors against the army of robots slowly being built up by Skynet. As they are building this resistance, one survivor happens to be a traitor in disguise, and has a secret that nobody would ever come to suspect.