Finally the visual effects category appears to be getting more recognition. The Academy Awards next year will feature five nominees instead of the three that have so far been the norm. The board of governors also changed rules governing the Feature Animation category. The minimum length of these features has been brought down from 70 minutes to 40 minutes. This puts it on par with other feature film categories.

The changes seem to represent the ever growing impact of animation in the present filmmaking business. Graphics, stop motion animation and such have been growing quality and importance for a while now. But sadly it has lacked the recognition. The fact that Andy Serkis was refused a nomination for his role as “Gollum” in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is still a sticking point for many.

In other news, James Cameron will bring back his blockbuster hit “Avatar” one more time to limited cinemas. Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D theaters will start showing the movie from August 27th onwards. But this won’t be quite the same “Avatar” you’ve seen before. Eight minutes of new footage, including action scenes and new creatures, will be added to the movie. Cameron said that this release was in response to fans who want to spend more time on the fictional planet-moon of Pandora.

So far the extended version will be available only to the domestic market. But if it does well, it might make it out worldwide as well.

There were howls at midnight on Wednesday and none of them came from any canine maws. Instead they were howls of anguish as boyfriends and husbands alike took their partners to watch the newest installment of the “Twilight” saga.

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” opened midweek and in a true show of strength raked in at least $30 million. Impressive as that maybe for a midweek opening, the success is highlighted further when you consider that it broke the record for an opening night haul in the series. The second movie in the series, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon”, gathered over $26 million last year; but it opened on a Friday which obviously guaranteed it more traffic. Summit Entertainment, the movie’s distributor, could not give a final accurate figure as the total tally would only be arrived at on Thursday morning. However, they were quite confident that that it would be well past the $30 million mark by then.

The movie can only expect to go from strength to strength, as it is poised to run rampant over a massive five day run helped by the 4th of July weekend. The current record for the five day weekend is held by the sci-fi thriller “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and stands at $200 million. “Eclipse” looks set to sail past that figure with ease.

Success in that league will only ensure rapid processing of the next two movies in the saga; “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1″ and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2″ are set to be released in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

When Buggles sang the song, ‘Video killed the Radio star’, perhaps it was too early to see the dominance of the internet in our lives. Not only has it taken multimedia to the next level but it is virtually a treasure trove of information about musicians, their history and their upcoming releases.

Be it country music or indie music, the internet gives you the latest information on their latest releases, the scoops about who they are dating and whom. But there is one more medium that has taken the world by storm: internet radio. You can listen to your favorite artists such as Garth Brooks and so on and so forth using this medium if you have a broadband connection and are able to look for them over the internet with ease.

While some people are more inclined towards devotional music, there are numerous Christian music radio stations that one can tune into in no time as well. Whether you like Christian Rock legends such as Petra, Third Day or even the softer music of Amy Grant and so on and so forth, one can begin their morning with some heart-lifting music.

Again, this all depends on the mood of the viewer, and so there are several radio stations that have been made available for their listening pleasure. So, get on the internet and spend your time listening to the music that you’ve always been wanting to listen but haven’t been able to access otherwise.

Nationalist groups have been suffocating the Oscar winning movie “The Cove” in Japan.  At least three theatres have canceled screening the documentary movie and twenty-three are in limbo trying to decide if they will show it or not. It was also banned from being shown at a U.S. Military base on the grounds of it being too controversial.

The movie documents an annual dolphin hunt that takes place in a Japanese village. The bloody slaughter is captured on hidden cameras and depicts the fishermen as local thugs.The protestors are pointing out that dolphin hunts are not found in only Japan but in other countries as well. They say that it is anti-Japanese and that the movie has links to Sea Shepard, the anti-whaling groups that has regular run-ins with Japanese whalers.

This is not the first time that Nationalist groups have flexed their muscle. “Yaksuni” was a movie that suffered the same fate two years ago. That movie was about a Japanese war shrine which honors Japanese soldiers, regardless of whether they were heroes or war criminals.

The current controversy has taken on overtones of suppression of the freedom of speech. Directors, academics and journalists have come together to write a letter to the theaters, asking them not to succumb to pressure from the Nationalist groups. An event was also held on Wednesday, where the movie was shown and discussions were held after wards on the issues of freedom of speech and theater cancellations.

Anne Carradine, wife of David Carradine is furious with the way the French production company handled his last production. She has launched a lawsuit against the company, MK2 S.A., claiming that they had failed to provide facilities to safeguard him.

The star of the seventies hit series “Kung Fu” was found dead in his hotel suite in June last year. Wild rumors have circulated as to how the star may have died. Although the general word bandied about is “suicide”, the popular theory is that the Carradine died of autoerotic asphyxiation. After two autopsies the cause of death has now settled down to “accidental asphyxiation”.

The star who was in recent times known for his role as the elusive Bill in the “Kill Bill” movies, had arrived in Bangkok for the filming of “Stretch”. The lawsuit accuses staff from the film as well as Carradine’s assistant of abandoning him in his room on their way to dinner when they were not able to contact him in his room. Carradine had contacted his assistant almost an hour later, but he was told that he would have to find his own means that night as the whole group was across town. It was after this incident that he was found dead. The lawsuit does not offer details on the actor’s death and nor does it specify how much is being claimed as damages.

MK2 was not prepared to comment on the lawsuit when they were contacted. They have halted production on “Stretch” and no plans have been made public as to how, if ever, the movie will be released.

Tolkien fans will have to wait a long time for “The Hobbit” to become a reality. The prequel to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy has hit a massive bump in the road. Director Guillermo del Toro quit the production after being frustrated by continuing delays.

He said that it was one of the hardest decisions of his life, as he had spent almost two years working on the project. However del Toro will still be involved with the movie as a co-writer for the screenplays. He will fulfill this role along with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. Jackson is function as joint executive producer alongside his wife Fran. He managed to seal a deal with regards to the movie in 2007, after which he got del Toro on board.

The main reason for delays has been the situation at MGM. Reports of near bankruptcy have been hounding the studio since late last year and this has prevented any solid work on “The Hobbit” from going ahead. Contrary to popular belief, the movie has not been green lighted and the 2012 date touted by fans is quite unlikely to happen.

The movie required a long term commitment from the Director, and del Toro had been ready for the long haul. He had agreed to spend three years in New Zealand to bring the two part movie to life. Unfortunately with the delays that period had to be extend to six, which del Toro could understandably not commit to. Jackson is confident that this will not affect the production too much, as the movie is still in the early stages and does not even have a go-ahead from the studio.