Pop quiz: what do the following movies have in common?

Gone with the Wind (1939), Star Wars (1977), The Sound of Music (1965), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Ten Commandments (1956), Titanic (1997), Jaws (1975), Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Exorcist (1973), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1939), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Ben-Hur (1959), Avatar (2009), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Sting (1973), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993), The Graduate (1967), Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999), Fantasia (1941), The Godfather (1972), Forrest Gump (1994), Mary Poppins (1964), The Lion King (1994)

If you said they all made scads of money, bravo — they are the top twenty-five domestic box-office champions of all time (adjusted for inflation, of course).

But consider another similarity: surprisingly few of them relied on established A-list movie stars — the most famous, the highest paid — for their moneymaking prospects. Gone with the Wind had Gable, yes. The Sting had Newman and Redford. The Godfather, Brando.

As for most of the rest, they either featured no A-listers at all, or used them before they became bonafide movie stars. In fact, many of those pictures can take credit for sending now-famous actors into the celestial Hollywood firmament in the first place. Gone with the Wind made Vivian Leigh known to the world. The Ten Commandments did it for Charlton Heston. The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman. The Godfather, Al Pacino. Star Wars, Harrison Ford. Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews. (more…)

In the video below [click to play], Oscar-winning director James Cameron spills some of the story beats for his long-in-production (four years) “Avatar,” which finally hits theatres this December 18th.  

He wrote the script fourteen years ago, before the technology was available to film it, spent nine years developing the cameras, and is now shooting live action in “Stereoscopic 3D.” Cameron’s shown bits of the film to friends and says they describe the experience as completely immersive, a “dream state … dreaming with your eyes wide open.”

Sounds like an amazing experience awaits.  The story, however, sounds awfully familiar:  Most of the action is set in the 22nd Century in the Alpha Centauri star system on a large Earth-like moon called Pandora … … (sorry, had to let a flash of Nerd Panic pass) … filled with lush rain forests and exotic creatures. A humanoid race, the Na’vi, inhabit the planet. They’re ten feet tall, striped like tigers and sport large tails. They’re also primitive, using bow and arrows to hunt. (more…)