Director James Cameron is unlocking the secrets of Pandora and taking fans on a guided tour of his vision with the highly anticipated release of AVATAR Extended Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and DVD releasing November 16th in North America and rolling out internationally from November 15th.

These exclusive Extended Collector’s Editions come with iconic, collectible packaging to get fans to experience Pandora like never before. With three versions of the film, AVATAR fans will get an all-new extended cut of the film and hours of never-before seen material including over 45 minutes of amazing deleted scenes!

“I told our team — let’s do the ultimate box set of Avatar, with everything in it the fans could possibly want. There’s an extended length cut that’s sixteen minutes longer, plus documentaries, behind the scenes featurettes, artwork and over 45 minutes of deleted scenes. Everything worth putting into a special edition is in this set,” said James Cameron.

The three-disc AVATAR Extended Collector’s Edition Blu-ray and Theatrical Special Edition Re-Release DVD will both feature the original theatrical release, a special edition re-release, family audio track with all objectionable language removed and new collector’s extended cut with sixteen more minutes including an exclusive alternate opening Earth scene. Viewers will journey to the depths of Pandora with filmmakers during “Capturing Avatar“ an in-depth feature length documentary covering the 16 year filmmaker journey including all new interviews with James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast and crew exploring James Cameron’s unique vision for the film seen by more than 310 million people worldwide. 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.

The AVATAR Extended Collector’s Edition Blu-ray will also have even more bonus material and interactive viewing. Through the unparalleled, interactive technology of Blu-ray, fans can dive further into the world of the Na’vi and experience the #1 international sensation from behind the scenes, with a “master class” on the production of the film. Leveraging the interactivity of Blu-ray, viewers can experience the full film in three stages of production: Performance Capture, Template (1990’s video game version) and Final as well as a composite of all stages in “Pandora’s Box”. This will be supported with interviews by Jim Cameron and the filmmakers and serve as a “master class” on the making of AVATAR.

AVATAR Extended Collection’s Edition: 3-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray: Catalog #: 2271369 (available for the suggested retail price of $54.99 U.S. / $66.99 Canada.)

Disc One
· Original Theatrical Version
· Special Edition Re-Release
· Collector’s Extended Cut
o 16 more minutes and exclusive alternate opening

Family Audio Track (All Objectionable Language Removed)
· Original Theatrical Release
· Special Edition Re-release

Disc Two
· “Capturing Avatar“ An in-depth feature length documentary with James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast and crew
· Deleted Scenes – including over 45 minutes of new never-before-seen deleted scenes
· Production Materials

Disc Three
· Open “Pandora’s Box” and go deeper into the filmmaker process
· Interactive Scene Deconstruction: Explore the various stages of production through 3 different viewing modes
· Production Shorts: 17 featurettes covering performance capture, scoring the film, 3D fusion camera, stunts and much more
· Avatar Archives including original scriptment, 300 page screenplay and the extensive Pandorapedia
· BD-live Portal with additional bonus materials

AVATAR Collector’s Edition: 3-Disc Special Edition DVD: Catalog #: 2271367 (available for the suggested retail price of $34.98 U.S./$45.98 Canada)

Disc One
· Original Theatrical Version
· Special Edition Re-release
· Collector’s Extended Cut
o 16 more minutes and exclusive alternate opening

Disc Two
· Original Theatrical Version
· Special Edition Re-release
· Collector’s Extended Cut

Disc Three
·“Capturing Avatar“ An in-depth feature length documentary with James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast and crew
· Deleted Scenes – including over 45 minutes of new never-before-seen deleted scenes

AVATAR Extended Collector’s Edition will be available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD everywhere in the United States and Canada on November 16th. International release dates and product information may vary by market. Please contact your local Twentieth Century Fox office to confirm country specific information.

Follow Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Twitter @FoxHomeEnt

Enter the ULTIMATE AVATAR SWEEPSTAKES at www.AvatarSweeps.com for a chance to win $50,000 and daily limited edition instant-win prizes!

Superannuation has found a handful of domain names registered by Warner Bros. that point to the sequel to Arkham Asylum.

The first half look like different names for the sequel, likely in an attempt to throw off anyone that might find this list (ehem…). The second are definitely for viral purposes, littered with fake websites that the people of Gotham would likely make in an attempt to cope with the fact that their world is overrun with super villians. Well, I mean, they could be names, There’s always a chance that Blacksteady is calling their follow-up to one of the best games of 2009 Batman: Where is Bruce Wayne? I mean, it could be like Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, right?

The full list is below.

• ArkhamCity.com
• BatmanArkhamCity.com
• BatmanAshesOfGotham.com
• BatmanBrokenGround.com
• BatmanNewArkham.com
• BatmanGrandDelusion.com
• BatmanRiseOfArkham.com
• BatmanSiegeOfGotham.com
• BatmanStateOfVillainy.com
• CityOfArkham.com
• CloseArkhamCity.com
• PeopleForGotham.com
• StopMayorSharp.com
• WarInGothamCity.com
• WheresBruceWayne.com

Of the potential names, I’m personally a big fan of Batman: Ashes of Gotham. Sure, it misses out on pulling the word Arkham into the title, but that’s a sacrifice worth making. Then again, I have a feeling it’s going to be called Batman: Arkham City, mainly because there are two different listings with that name in the title. I’m not as big of a fan of that one, but I’m not going to complain. I’m so damn excited to hear more that they could call it Batman: How I Punched Jonathan H. Cooper In The Face and I’d still pre-order a dozen copies.

Is there any video game they won’t turn into a comic?  The list of video game properties already appearing on comic shelves is huge, encompassing a range of games as diverse as Mirror’s Edge, World of Warcraft, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Never one to ignore a growing market, EA has joined in, announcing a partnership with comic publisher, IDW.

The partnership will create a new comic imprint, entitled EA Comics.  EA will handle all creative duties, while IDW publishes and distributes the books.  The first two properties to receive the comic treatment will be Army of Two and Dragon Age.

“We’ve seen an increasing number of video game tie-ins with comics over the last few years. This marks another step in our strategy for extending EA’s wholly-owned game properties to new media. It is exhilarating to be working with the comic book creators directly,” said Mike Quigley, EA’s Vice President of Global Marketing.

EA seems to be taking the partnership very seriously, signing deals with established comics pros, Humberto Ramos, Peter Milligan, and Orson Scott Card.  Army of Two will launch in January, with a story that picks up where the game left off.  Dragon Age has not been given a release date.

Do any of the currently available video game-inspired comics interest you guys?  Is anyone out there really caught up in the story of Street Fighter?  Generally, I’ve found that these books work better when they’re presented as one-shots, as opposed to ongoing series.  Halo Uprising was cool, as was the Dead Space book, but monthlies like World of Warcraft seem to lose a lot in translation.  Anyone disagree?

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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is only 16 days away, and yet we still don’t have a full playable roster list.  Marvel and Activision have been very hush-hush about the last playable hero, but Marvel.com’s spotlight on some new concept art may have spoiled the last player; Havok.  Or not.  We don’t know.

For those unfamiliar with the minutiae of the X-Men universe, Havok is Alex Summers, the younger brother of the team’s more famous leader, Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.  Much like his brother, Alex is able to project powerful blasts from his body.  Unlike Cyclops, though, these blasts are emitted from Havok’s chest and hands, and consist of superheated solar plasma as opposed to Cyclops’ pure concussive force.  Havok has lead the X-Men team in times of need, but was introduced as a very reluctant superhero who mostly wanted to live a normal life with his girlfriend, Lorna Dane (who would later become the magnetically powered Polaris).  Currently, Havok serves as the leader of the Starjammers, a team of benevolent intergalactic space smugglers.

The article doesn’t state whether Havok will be a playable character, an enemy, or an NPC, but with one character left to reveal, he would be a good choice.  His power-set would translate perfectly to the game, he’s got a great costume, and an especially cool, slightly redesigned version of it for the game, and he’s an X-Man who has never gotten much attention outside the comics themselves.  We’ll be keeping a close eye on the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 website for the inevitable announcement.

What do you think?  Will it be Havok or someone else entirely?

Marvel Comics owns some of the gaming world’s most coveted licenses.  Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, and Wolverine  have all seen multiple game adaptations of varying degrees of quality.  Pretty much every Marvel movie has had an associated game, and with a full roster of Avengers coming to theatres in the coming years, we’re sure to see plenty of super-heroic gaming action.  Marvel has announced that they are currently working on one of those projects, The Mighty Thor.

This announcement came as part of Marvel Executive Ira Rubenstein’s statement to Joystiq yesterday about the publisher’s new commitment to quality games based on their characters.  While talking about the fact that Marvel will no longer base its games directly off of movies, Rubenstein let slip that he is proud of the team working on the Thor game.  No publisher or developer has been mentioned, but one can safely assume that Activision will be handling the pub duties.

Thor, based on the Norse god of Thunder, has been a Marvel mainstay for 35 years, and will see a movie adaptation in 2011, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh.  He is big, strong, can command storms and lightning, and has an awesome hammer called Mjolnir.

Almost hidden among Sony’s big reveals at Gamescon was the announcement of a digital reader for the PSP.  It may not be as sexy as the PS3 Slim, but it will offer “many different types of media,” and will launch with hundreds of Marvel Comics.

Marvel’s VP Ira Rubenstein was on-hand at the event to announce the comic publisher’s partnership with Sony, but other comics are expected to hit the service, as well.  Transformers, Star Trek and Archie were mentioned specifically.  According to Sony, the content will be made easier to read with “autoflow.”

As a comic reader, I have to admit I’m never happy to hear about a new digital distribution avenue for comics.  I understand that increased printing costs are forcing the comics industry to find new streams of revenue, but I worry that once a digital outlet becomes succesfull with comics, it will mark the death of the printed comic.  I like holding a book in my hands, then putting it in a bag and board, and sorting it into its proper place in my collection.  You just can’t do that with digital comics.

Out of all of Batman’s famous villains, The Scarecrow is perhaps the creepiest.  Sure, the Joker has that chilling smile and the whole “sociopathic lunatic” thing going for him, but Dr. Jonathan Crane, AKA the Scarecrow, is all about fear.  He uses hallucinogenic drugs to terrify his enemies, and dresses, well, like a scarecrow.  As creepy as he is, he’s perhaps never looked as disturbing as he does in Eidos and Rocksteady Studio’s upcoming game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.

He certainly is a lot more menacing than he was in the 1980s..

Come to think of it, he was actually pretty creepy back then, too.  Regardless, this new version looks like something out of Freddy Krueger’s nightmares, so he’s pretty menacing.  So far, with the exception of Harley Quinn, I’m loving the re-designs for Batman’s “Rogues Gallery.”  What do you guys think?  Are they the right flavor of creepy, or has designer Ale Garza strayed too far from the characters’ roots?

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At the Wizard World Philly 09 Marvel Toys panel, there was at least as much focus what might have been as there was on what will be.  Lead designer, Jesse Falcon, sculptor Phil Ramirez, and David Vonner and Scott George from Hasbro’s Marvel team helmed the event which included a few surprises, a good amount of applause, and even some resentment and disappointment.

The presentation started off with a ton of pre-production images of Marvel Legends and other figure lines in various stages of production.  Nothing new here, and nothing that we haven’t seen before, but a nice way to start off the very Marvel Legends-centric panel.  This led into the guys showing a few of the “Lost bases of Wave 9;” figure bases that were intended to be included in Toy Biz’s ninth wave of Marvel Legends, but were scrapped in favor of the Galactus Build-a-Figure.  Among the bases shown were a destroyed street scene intended for the Hulk and a gorgeous Necronomicon base for Dr. Strange that included a Lovecraftian tentacle demon.  As much as I’d like to have that Dr. Strange base, I wouldn’t trade my Galactus for anything.

Next up, Jesse showed some of the goofier ideas that the team has had, including an Elvis figure with Doctor Octopus’ tentacles, and a couple of modified trolls from Lord of the Rings – Mullet Troll and Ol’ Miner 49er Troll.  It was pretty funny stuff, and it showcased the kind of layed back attitude that must exist in the Marvel Toys offices.

Then, it was on to some images of prototype figures that were never produced.  The success of the robotic Spider-Man figure made them draw up designs for a robotic Wolverine, Captain America, and Venom.  The designs were extremely detailed and quite impressive, but I’m glad the figs weren’t produced, as that would have taken other worthwhile figures out of the mix.

They then showed a mock-up of a Quinjet (The Avengers’ flying vehicles), wich was intended to be a sort of “Super Build-a-Figure” that would have been spread out over four waves of figures.  The rising cost of plastic made this financially impossible, but at least we got to see what might have been.

Also from the “what might have been” category, Jesse showed style sheets for Darkhawk, Absorbing Man and Bug from the Micronauts, as well as a fully-sculpted Dire Wrait figure.  The crowd was ecstatic, until they learned that all these figures have been scrapped, and will likely never see the light of day.

Continuing in the “What if?” tradition, Hasbro showed what would have been the third wave of Legendary Comic Book Heroes.  It’s a damn shame, too, because it looked to be the best lineup yet for the indie-comic series; Grendel, Grendel Prime, Nexus, Nixon (from Hard Boiled), Vanguard (Savage Dragon), Aphrodite IX, Mean Machine (Judge Dredd), and the Rocketeer, with “The Big Guy” from “Rusty and the Big Guy” as the Build-a-Figure.  It feels like this could have been the wave that finally sold the line, but sadly, they’ll never see store shelves.

Finally, it was time to show some new stuff.  At San Diego this year, Hasbro will announce and show 16-18 new Marvel Legends, but Philadelphia got a sneak peek at three of them.

When Warpath was shown, people applauded.  For Lady Bullseye, the reception was somewhat less enthusiastic.  But when Madrox was shown, the room went nuts.  Apparently, Marvel Legends fans have been eagerly awaiting the ultimate army builder, The Multiple Man.  All three sculpts looked nice, and while it wasn’t mentioned, I have to assume there will be a variant Madrox that has an “M” over his eye to reflect his current appearance in the pages of X-Factor.

After that, the panel opened the floor to questions.  Following a few really asinine questions (“What are Marvel Legends?”, and “Who else will be in next year’s waves (that you just told us won’t be announced for another month)?”), an attendee asked about the availability of Hasbro’s Walmart-exclusve Nemesis wave in the US.  While the line has been delayed, it is still coming to the States.  No date was given for its US release, but we can expect new 2-packs some time in August.  Whoever the rest of the 2010 figures turn out to be, they won’t come with a Build-a-Figure piece, as the BaF program has been suspended for the year.  It’s possible that it will return in later waves, but even that’s not certain.

A few more bits of info were mentioned, such as the possibility of figures inspired by the Dark Reign storyline that currently dominates Marvel’s books, and the likelihood of more Inhumans figures and a Mockingbird figure, and when asked if the GI Joe license would ever appear in the six-inch scale, Phil Ramirez replied “YO, NO!”  A sad fact, but funny delivery.

As a Marvel Legends fan with a collection of over 250 figures, I couldn’t have been happier with this panel.  Prior to this, I, like many people, wasn’t sure if the line would continue at all, but we now know that Hasbro still plans to support the revolutionary line for at least another year and, from all indications, have no plans to scrap it any time soon.  I was a bit surprised at the lack of any info regarding Marvel’s new 3.75” line, which seems to be their most prominent line on store shelves, but it’s great to see the Legends line back in the spotlight.

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One of the panels we attended this weekend was Zenescope Entertainment’s “The Grimm Side of Success”, during which they talked about Grimm Fairy Tales and other current projects. Hit the jump for the recap.

-The panel starts with writer Raven Gregory asking to borrow my laptop, because there isn’t one  in the room. Typical WWPhilly organization! (He can’t borrow mine, because I’m working!)
-Someone is here with a laptop. It’s not working.
-Okay, working computer, we’re in business.
-Ralph Tedesco, David Seidman, Joe Brusha, and Raven are the panelists.
-How did Grimm Fairy Tales come to be? Let’s find out in a presentation of some sort!
-2005: Once upon a time… They wanted to make fairy tales for adults in comics, no one had done that before. (Ummm… Fables?) Book debuted in Philly in 2005. (Yay, local comic publisher.)
-They try to get a different artist for each issue, up to 39/40 now.
-Apparently fairy tales for adults means scantily clad women and boobs.
-Sela vs. Belinda, the protagonist and antagonist of Grimm are profiled. Compares Belinda to Magneto. Um… people on the panel don’t seem to know Sela’s origin.
-Doing a new Dante’s Inferno series starring Mercy Dante… who has big boobs and guns.
-Salem’s Daughter, incorporating American myths (i.e. Jersey Devil)
-Merc is a story about mercenaries in the future. Sacrificed bodies to become superhumans. What they don’t know is that this is a death sentence after about 10 years. Sounds interesting.
-They’re doing more sci-fi now.
-Agon: there’s an interplanetary battle, with ten best warriors from each planet fighting, loser planet gets blown to smithereens
-Neverland (just logo shown, “brilliant use of artwork”), similar to Wonderland, fairy tale universe, and that’s all they will tell us.
-Exclusive WW Grimm covers have Sela in Phillies gear, it’s cute. Retro baseball card covers.

Then it was time for questions from the audience.

-Would they make animated series? They want to make Wonderland into a movie at some point, but they don’t know.
-Raven gets up and leaves for no apparent reason.
-Salem’s Daughter inspiration? A lot is inspired by Salem witch trials, grew from there.
-What’s going on with Strawmen? Contemplating releasing a trade, want to have compilations out by end of year. Screenplay in the works.
-No Quarter? Where is it? Can’t talk about it. (#0 came out earlier this year, and it fell apart).
-Is there any fairy tale they would love to do but can’t? No, there are tons of them, the trick is to find more that people will want to read about.
-What’s happening with 1001 Arabian Nights? “It’s halfway done, I don’t know.” Sorry for the delay.
-Marvel copied their Queen of Hearts with their fairy tale series, is it aggravating as a smaller publisher? Yeah, but it’s also a compliment.
-Raven’s back.
-At Raven: “Could you publish a book of your tweets, because they’re totally awesome.” Raven tries to dismiss that right away, says not everyone needs to know what he’s saying on the internet. Umm… okay.
-Are they doing anything Robin Hood? They’ve talked about it. They have an Oz series coming out next year though.
-Things are falling apart. “This is our worst panel ever.” “We apologize for this panel.”
-They’re throwing a party later and use this opportunity to promote it. $5 entry. Girls come dressed in fairy tale outfits and get in for free. Can win $250 and a pro photo shoot
-Are they interested in making any of their stuff into video games? They are interested, have some ideas for games based on Grimm.
-I win a t-shirt in a raffle. Seems as good a way as any to end a panel.

Well that certainly looks like it has all the potential of the great crossovers of our time. I’m just getting into The Goon now (I know, I know), and I have to say that my interest is piqued.  So, what’re your thoughts?

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