Following Walt Disney Animation Studio’s groundbreaking deal to license Nuke compositing software from The Foundry, the two companies have struck a more far-reaching agreement that marks the first time the Mouse House has licensed its proprietary animation software to an outside company. Parts of the Mouse’s Paint3D software will be incorporated into Mari, the Foundry’s off-the-shelf texture painting tool. Mari was originally developed by Weta Digital and has been used on “Avatar” and “District 9,” among other pics. The Walt Disney Animation Studios technology group will be part of a Mari steering committee.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118022017.html?categoryId=1009&cs=1

As we reflect on the glory (or the tedium) of the 82nd Academy Awards, here's an imaginary visit to a Hollywood where movie posters live up to the high standards of truth in advertising:

These are part of great collection cooked up by the jokers at College Humor, you should check out the entire gallery right here...

And this one may be my favorite of the fanboy-leaning films in the mocking collection... 

-- Geoff Boucher

"Avatar" has become the highest grossing movie of all time, surpassing the Oscar-winning film "Titanic." Will "Avatar" make a big mark on Oscar night too?  We talked earlier to Rebecca Keegan, the author of "The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron," and here she weighs in on why this could be the year a science-fiction film wins the Oscar for best picture. -- Jevon Phillips

A month ago, give or take, we made our early predictions about what would be the 10 nominees for best picture next month. Well, now that we’ve seen almost every film that has an even remote chance to make that list (we’re still short a couple but, rest assured, our diligence is fierce), we’ve decided to slightly modify said predictions and, at the same time, come clean about something of which we’re not terribly proud.

Nobody spends more time covering the trophy season in Hollywood and all of its subplots than Tom O'Neil over at The Envelope. Here's his analysis of this morning's nominations announcement from the Producers Guild of America, which had a major tilt toward the fanboy universe. 

The Golden Globe nominations will be announced tomorrow and this Hollywood awards season arrives with some interesting subplots for fans of fanboy fare. Steven Zeitchek and Rachel Abramowitz, two frequent contributors to the Hero Complex, have a story suggesting that, for fanboys films, there's still a force field surrounding the best-picture category of Oscars.

Scene from District 9

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Peter Jackson, who’s finishing up the horror film The Lovely Bones and James Cameron’s epic sci-fi movie Avatar, are purported to be among the highlights of this summer’s 40th Anniversary edition of Comic-Con International in San Diego, according to the New York Times.

Jackson has never attended the...