Following his happy reaction to Piranha 3D's box office performance and plans for a sequel, producer Mark Canton has found himself in bloody waters. Not due to killer fish or Kelly Brook, but thanks to Pandora's chief 3D spokesman, James Cameron.

The Avatar director, who previously slammed Clash of the Titans and Alice in Wonderland for their sloppy post-conversion work, turned his powers of the dark side onto Piranha 3D during his Avatar press tour.

He told Vanity Fair: "It's exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3D horror films from the '70s and '80s, like Friday The 13th 3D."

Outraged by Cameron's derogatory comments, Canton retorted by citing Piranha 3D's 82% Rotten Tomatoes rating and the fun experience audiences are having in the cinemas - including filmmakers such as JJ Abrams. 

"Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own," the producer wrote to journalists. "It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - Cameron consistently celebrates himself as though he is a team of one."

Cameron, who started his career with a brief directorial stint on 1981's Piranha Part 2: The Spawning, reiterated his belief in the current "renaissance" of 3D cinema. Referring to both Disney's Tron and Martin Scorsese's 3D project, he dismissed Piranha 3D as "bottom of the barrel".

Canton concluded by describing Cameron's comments as "ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric."

Avatar (Special Edition) was re-released in UK cinemas in 3D last week and contains eight additional minutes of new footage.

There's nothing like watching killer fish tear humans to bits in 3D. Especially if those humans have boobs. Which is why Piranha 3D got such a good response from critics and will now have a sequel.

Piranha 3D 2 (6D?) will no doubt have the same complex combination of fish, blood and Kelly Brook - a formula which notched up $10m in its US opening weekend. It's not a bad figure for a movie which cost around $24m, especially in the comedy horror genre, which never reaps a massive amount in cinemas.

The figure puts it way below Snakes on a Plane's $25m opening and The Expendable's continued box office run, but above Jennifer Aniston's $8.4m for her rom-com The Switch.

Most importantly, Dimension Films are pleased with what they've seen: "After earning rave reviews from top critics, wild cheers from audiences around the country, and $10 million in its opening weekend box office, Dimension Films is pleased to announce that Piranha 3D: The Sequel is in the works."

The studio's statement also quoted Producer Mark Canton, who added that "it’s fantastic that so many critics are really getting the movie and recommending it." You may not believe that statement, but check out Rotten Tomatoes. Piranha 3D has 83%.

All in all, it's great news for Alexandre Aja, who also directed Switchblade Romance, Mirrors and that remake of The Hills Have Eyes. Maybe his career path can follow that of James Cameron, who started his road to Avatar with Piranha 2: The Spawning. If Aja's sequel sees Kelly Brook fighting off flying killer fish, we'll know where the idea came from.

With Avatar Special Edition edging ever closer, we've now got ourselves a second trailer to get our juices flowing. Including the original trailers, this is probably close to our 20th video preview of Pandora, but here's some news to really get you turned on: the Na'avi sex scene will be included.

Not in the trailer, you understand, but in the extended footage reintroduced into the movie - Avatar's re-release promises fans an extra eight minutes of "never-before-seen" material. A very tiny fragment of those minutes will see Jake and Neytiri getting their blue freak on.

"It's been restored, every last frame of it," Cameron told MTV recently. "Seriously. I would say, just so that we correctly manage people's expectations, it does not change our rating at all. I would call it more of an alien foreplay scene. It's not like they're ripping their clothes off and going at it."

Cameron originally commented: "Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora, and wished they could have stayed there longer. So we’re making that possible."

Now audiences can stay there longer and also see digital 3D foreplay. Will you be going back to cinemas to see Pandora on the big screen again? Check out the new trailer below and let us know your thoughts.

Avatar Special Edition is released on Friday 27th August. 

All hail James Cameron. Not for Avatar or any of that 3D malarkey, but because he's stepped in to produce Guillermo Del Toro's At the Mountains of Madness. After years of struggling against studios, Del Toro's adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's novel will finally make its way to our cinemas. Produced by Mr Cameron. And shot in 3D.

Old William of Bull startled many at Comic-Con when he announced he'd be adding Disney's Haunted Mansion to his super-massive pile of projects he's working on. But he's been dying to tell Lovecraft's tale of the discovery of ancient evil at the South Pole in the 1930s for over a decade. It doesn't help, of course, that he wants it to be R-rated. And strictly set in that period.

After discussions with Dreamworks and others, the former Hobbit director is now putting the project together at Universal. Writing with Matthew Robbins, the epic sci-fi adventure could be quite something to behold. Cameron's creative nous isn't something to sniff at, even if he is making us all watch it in 3D.

Expect R-rated, period, Antartica-based pre-production to begin very shortly, with a shoot sometime mid-2011. 

Avatar Special Edition is clawing its way back towards our cinema, scheduled to arrive in a few weeks time. So it's only natural that it has a trailer to precede its digital 3-D re-release on Friday 27th August.

Yes, Cameron's blockbusting, groundbreaking, blue-loving sci-fi epic is back to round off its box office record to an even neater number. Like infinity. Or something. As he put it: "Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora, and wished they could have stayed there longer. So we’re making that possible."

In addition to another chance to sample Pandora all over again, there's also that added lure of eight minutes of never-before-seen footage. So read on for the chance to see the trailer for Avatar all over again - and if you spot eight seconds of brand new footage, give yourself a big blue pat on the back.

Hansel and Gretel. In 3-D. It sounds like your traditional family animated fare. Then you see this press release and realise that it's in live action. And that it's being produced by Michael Bay.

Yes, the Transformers director is muscling in on the Brothers Grimm fairytale via his production company, The Institute. There's no script yet, but that's hardly important. Especially when it's already scheduled to start shooting in early 2011. The only person locked in place so far is Avatar's creature designer Joseph C Pepe, who will be creating monsters based on "German mythology" - clearly a well-established feature of the Hansel and Gretel story.

This is obviously not to be confused with Will Ferrell's announcement that he would be tackling the same source material as a horror comedy, titled Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. Such a silly take on the tale wouldn't at all match Michael Bay's serious approach. After all, The Institute's motto is "Where Brand Science Meets Great Storytelling". And Michael Bay always manages at least 50% of that statement.

Guess who back. Back again. Cameron's back. And this time he's brought with him 8 minutes (count 'em, 8) of never-seen-before footage. Yes, Avatar (or "Avatar: Special Edition") now has an official re-release date: Friday 27th August.

How do you top a box office record? Release the film again and keep on counting. That's pretty much the principle behind James Cameron's extended version of his blockbusting, groundbreaking, blue-loving sci-fi epic. Naturally, it'll only be in 3-D. Because, largely thanks to Avatar, the number of digital 3-D screens in the UK has exploded. Cameron had this to say:

"Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora, and wished they could have stayed there longer. So we’re making that possible. Avatar: Special Edition will be exclusively in 3-D, and will have eight minutes of never before seen footage, including new creatures and action scenes. Whether you already love the movie, or you've never seen it, with this Special Edition, you'll be seeing it like never before."

Unless of course you saw it the first time. Still, eight minutes could be crucial to the plot - perhaps an alternate ending, or that long-mooted sex scene? Either way, Fox are all fired up for the second cinema event of the decade: "It's especially gratifying, because not only has Avatar become one of the most beloved films in history, but after its initial theatrical release, we have been inundated with requests to re-release the film in theaters in 3-D. Equally important, we’re thrilled that Jim Cameron is able to give audiences even more of what they loved."

Will you be in the queue on Friday 27th August? Will the snazzy poster below change your mind?

It's not looking good for The Hurt Locker on Sunday. Not only has one of its producers been banned from the ceremony (due to over-soliciting votes from Academy members), but now, according to The Guardian, Kathryn Bigelow's intense war film is faced with a lawsuit. 

38-year-old Serfeant Jeffrey Sarver, member of the army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, has claimed that Jeremy Renner's chraracter, Will James, is based on him. Summit Entertainment have responded that the character is purely fictitious despite Sarver's lawyer's argument that his life has been stolen.

The key is Mark Boal's screenplay, which he wrote after a 2005 stint in Iraq as a journalist for Playboy magazine. The lawsuit states that Sarver gave Boal details like the call-sign "Blaster One", which were then incorporated into the film. Sarver argues that Hollywood has "made billions exploiting veterans", but held off his lawsuit until after the Academy's voting period had finished.

Whether this backlash against Bigelow's movie - made for much less than its heated rival, James Cameron's Avatar - is a result of the contest between the two lead films is a matter of opinion. Bad-mouthing other contenders is a commonplace tradition (although The Hurt Locker seems to have been punished more than most), but a lawsuit is a new form of attack.

Ironically, alongside Sarver's claims that the realistic Hurt Locker is a little too realistic, other soldiers have stepped forward and criticised Mark Boal's screenplay in the LA Times for being "inaccurate" and "sloppy". Last year, Slumdog Milllionaire was heavily slated for supposedly exploiting Indian child actors. It ended up winning Best Picture.

Oh, what a night for British film! The BAFTAs got handed out to a gaggle of great talent tonight. Not only did Duncan Jones get his welcome reward for his Outstanding British Debut, but Colin Firth and Carey Mulligan waltzed off with the Best Actor prizes - a nice score for the home crowd, with both of them fully deserving the win.

Meanwhile, An Education got beaten to Costume and Make-Up by the equally English Young Victoria, spreading the national love around a bit - Fish Tank got a nice surprise as Outstanding British Film, again trumping Lone Scherfig's favourite. Other obvious victories came for Christoph Waltz and Mo'Nique as Supporting Actors, with Up bagging both Best Score and Best Animation.

But it was The Hurt Locker which emerged at the top of the heap. Capitalising on its 8 nominations, it wiped the board with rival flick Avatar, nicking the well earned technical awards for Editing and Cinematography, alongside Sound and Original Screenplay (Adapted went to the lovely Up in the Air).

Avatar got Visual Effects and Production Design, but that was it for Cameron's blue box office horse. And rightly so. The Hurt Locker, which won Best Director with ease, ended the night crowned Best Film. There wasn't a single person in the room who could argue with that one.

Kristen Stewart, naturally, won the Rising Star Award - mostly thanks to the frantic support of her fans, all of whom were able to have their say in the public's vote.

Now the attention goes to the Oscars, where tonight's results may foreshadow (but not influence) the outcome across the Atlantic. For America's Academy, Jeff Bridges may be a better fit than Colin Firth and Sandra Bullock has a high chance of winning for The Blind Side. And, even more crucially, Cameron's financial success may well earn Avatar's producers Best Film (although Bigelow's Best Director is pretty much guaranteed now).

But before we get carried away, it's worth reading on for the full list of all our glorious British winners. Or even checking out the (semi-)live tweeting that we were bored enough to bring you. And then you can wonder about who'll win the Oscar. It certainly won't be Kristen Stewart.

Ok, so it's a little late in the day for this - in fact, the awards are already actually happening - but I'm avoiding any live feeds and sticking with the BBC coverage like the rest of the public (I wasn't allowed into the ceremony this year after I assaulted James McAvoy two years ago).

But with the Writers Guild awards giving the goods to The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air, James Cameron's hold on the evening is looking a little less firm. Will Avatar take home the big awards? I really hope not. And I don't think it will so far from its home shores; this is Britain's Academy and I like to think it's a little less swayed by box office takings.

On that naive note, here's a brief rundown of my predictions for tonight. Best Film and Director will hopefully go to The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow, with Cameron picking up the visual effects award - Hurt Locker will take all the technical visuals, because it's such an impressive piece of art. Avatar just has blue people in it.

Outstanding Debut will obviously go to Duncan Jones for the incredible Moon, which doesn't get much of a look in otherwise. Best British Film will head to An Education (but Fish Tank is the film that should really win it). As for writing awards, it's all about Up in the Air and The Hurt Locker (but I'd love it if A Serious Man and In The Loop won instead). I want Let the Right One In to get Best Foreign Film, but it will most likely go to A Prophet - Haneke triumphed in Cannes, but us Brits prefer prison flicks that are gritty and stylish. With Up scooping Best Animated and Best Score, the only other place where an upset might happen is Best Actor; could Colin Firth unsettle the near-certain Jeff Bridges? Not in America, but on his home turf? It's quite possible. As for Carey Mulligan? Well, she's clearly the Best Actress around (a special thank you to Sandra Bullock for not being nominated).

And finally, the Orange Rising Star? Well, I want Carey Mulligan to carry as many masks home as possible, but with all the fans of Twilight taking over the country, I can imagine that Kristen Stewart is a tiny bit of a favourite. Did you know Robert Pattinson will be there too? Commence screaming now. Then read on for the full predictions (in italics).