Advance tickets for what’s likely the most anticipated film of the year went on sale yesterday, and it’s a safe bet that a great deal of The Dark Knight Rises midnight tickets are for IMAX screenings.  Director Christopher Nolan has made his preference for the format abundantly clear, and he filmed nearly an hour of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX.  Select AMC theaters will be playing the first two entries in Nolan’s trilogy, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back-to-back leading up to the midnight release of Rises, and now comes word that all three will be shown in the IMAX format.  Hit the jump for more.

Update: We reached out to IMAX and they confirmed that while Batman Begins was released previously in IMAX, this is the first time the film is being converted to digital IMAX in order for it to screen in IMAX theaters with digital projectors for the marathon.

We’re a little less than two months away from the release of The Avengers, and the impending premiere is becoming quite apparent. Just yesterday we brought you a bevy of information on the all-star superhero movie from writer-director Joss Whedon, and now AMC Theaters has announced a movie marathon event set to take place the day before The Avengers hits theaters. “The Ultimate Marvel Marathon” will unfold in select AMC theaters across the country and will feature back-to-back-to-back showings of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and ultimately The Avengers.

The whole thing starts on May 3rd at 11:30am and runs all the way through the midnight showing of The Avengers. It’s quite an ambitious feat, and I’m not sure I’d be able to make it all the way through without feeling like a zombie during The Avengers, but I’m sure there’s plenty of you out there up for the task. It’d definitely be interesting to watch all the Marvel films in a row and spot how well the films do—or don’t—lead into one another (Bruce Banner’s been Ruffalo-ed!). Hit the jump to find out when advanced tickets go on sale.

We’ve only seen a teaser trailer and a handful of images from Ridley Scott’s sci-fi pic Prometheus thus far, but the film is rightfully one of the most anticipated of the year. As if Scott’s return to the sci-fi genre wasn’t enough, Prometheus is said to take place in the same universe as the director’s horror classic Alien. It was announced today that Scott himself will premiere the first full trailer for the film on March 17th at the AMC Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California, followed by a 30-minute Q&A with the director conducted by writer/producer Damon Lindelof. Hit the jump for more, including how you can stream the event live. [Update: 20th Century Fox has now confirmed that Scott and Lindelof will be onhand for a Prometheus panel at this year's WonderCon. Thanks to reader Steve for the heads up.]

As the 3D re-release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace looms closer, Lucasfilm is pulling out all the stops to ensure that fans burned by their first Episode I viewing experience will happily fork over more money to see the movie again. It’s already known that Episodes IV, V, and VI won’t be re-released in 3D unless Episodes I, II, and III are successful, and now they’re throwing Star Wars 3D glasses at us. AMC Theaters announced today that during opening weekend, fans will received an all-new Hasbro Star Wars Fighter Pod with the purchase of each 3D ticket, while supplies last.

Furthermore, 10 AMC theaters across the country will be hosting event screenings at which fans will receive exclusive Anakin Skywalker Podracer 3D glasses with each ticket purchase. These 10 theaters will also play host to a LEGO feature area, Darth Maul face-painting (at last!), and more. Hit the jump to find out which theaters will be holding the event screenings. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace opens in 3D February 10th.

If you’ve been hanging around the site for a while, you know that we tend to post a lot of content throughout the course of a week. From interviews and reviews to general entertainment news, set visits, and niche stories, we always do our best to provide you the reader with a wide spectrum of coverage. Nevertheless, our front page only holds fifteen stories at a time meaning that some of our most interesting content has a tendency to fall through the cracks.  In an attempt to bring these stories back to the forefront, we are introducing this weekly “Top 5″ feature which we hope will prevent readers from missing out on the best Collider has to offer.

In this, our inaugural week, we’re bringing you a recap of Brendan’s mathematical breakdown of dueling Snow White films, our look at dimly lit 2d theater projection, a possible R-rated Riddick, Michael Sheen reading Twilight fan fiction, and Jack Black discussing with Steve where not to use body soap. Check out the quick recaps and links after the jump.

While theater owners moan and make empty threats in response to the studios’ premium VOD Service, they’re doing nothing to make the moviegoing experience any better for patrons.  The Boston Globe’s Ty Burr discovered that theaters are bringing the poorly-lit experience of 3D to their 2D movies.   Theaters are misusing their digital project equipment and leaving in the 3D lens when they should be swapping it out if they’re showing a 2D movie.  Burr found the issue not only at the AMC Loews Boston Common on Tremont Street but also at Regal Fenway where regular brightly lit 35mm prints of Water of Elephants and Madea’s Big Happy Family where playing against their own poorly-projected versions.  The problem across theater chains appears to be Sony’s new 4K Digital Projectors and leaving them on when playing a 2D film

Hit the jump for more on how theaters are taking your money and not giving you the quality picture you paid for.

With AMC launching a new rewards program (AMC Stubs) to replace Movie Watcher, they’ve invited three movie “bloggers” to participate in a competition to visit the most AMC Theatres and see as many movies as possible from April 15 – May 6, 2011. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen all my FourSquare check-ins using the tag #AMCStubs. Each time you see one, I’m at the theater watching a movie to try and win. So why am I putting in all this effort? Because the winner gets a 5-Year Movie Pass to AMC Theatres! Yes… 5 years of free movies!

While most of the contest falls on my shoulders as I’m the one visiting the theaters, there is a way for some of you to help me win. With this promotion focusing on the new AMC Stubs Card, if you have the card, you can vote for me. The one with the most votes get a huge number of points and it will definitely help one of us win. If you’d like to vote for me, click here. If you’ve already voted, or are about to vote, I really mean this: thank you.

More details on the AMC Stubbs program after the jump.

With AMC launching a new rewards program (AMC Stubs) to replace Movie Watcher, they’ve invited three movie “bloggers” (Mike Eisenberg of ScreenRant, Wilson Morales of BlackFilm, and me) to participate in a competition to visit the most AMC Theatres and see as many movies as possible from April 15 – May 6, 2011. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen all my FourSquare check-ins using the tag #AMCStubs. Each time you see one, I’m at the theater watching a movie to try and win. So why am I putting in all this effort? Because the winner gets a 5-Year Movie Pass to AMC Theatres! Yes… 5 years of free movies!

While most of the contest falls on my shoulders as I’m the one visiting the theaters, there is a way for some of you to help me win. With this promotion focusing on the new AMC Stubs Card, if you have the card, you can vote for me. The one with the most votes get a huge number of points and it will definitely help one of us win. If you’d like to vote for me, click here. If you’ve already voted, or are about to vote, I really mean this: thank you.

More details on the AMC Stubbs program after the jump.

As a way to build awareness for the upcoming Blu-ray release for the Lord of the Rings: Extended Editions, Warner Bros. will be theatrically releasing the extended editions in to AMC Theaters this June.  TheOneRing reports that The Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Edition will open June 14th, The Two Towers: Extended Edition will open June 21st, and The Return of the King: Extended Edition will hit on June 28th, the same day that Blu-ray trilogy of the extended editions hits stores.  Now the real question is whether or not these films will feature intermissions or if the hardcore LOTR fans will happily sit through a four-hour feature.  I’m betting on the latter.

Hit the jump for a list of special features included on the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: Limited Extended Edition Blu-ray.  The 15-disc set has an SRP of $119.98.

With AMC launching a new rewards program (AMC Stubs) to replace Movie Watcher, they’ve invited three movie “bloggers” (Mike Eisenberg of ScreenRant, Wilson Morales of BlackFilm, and me) to participate in a competition to visit the most AMC Theatres and see as many movies as possible from April 15 – May 6, 2011. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you’ve probably seen all my FourSquare check-ins using the tag #AMCStubs.  Each time you see one, I’m at the theater watching a movie to try and win.  So why am I putting in all this effort? Because the winner gets a 5-Year Movie Pass to AMC Theatres! Yes… 5 years of free movies!

While most of the contest falls on my shoulders as I’m the one visiting the theaters, there is a way for some of you to help me win. With this promotion focusing on the new AMC Stubs Card, if you have the card, you can vote for me.   The one with the most votes get a huge number of points and it will definitely help one of us win.  If you’d like to vote for me, click here.  If you’ve already voted, or are about to vote, I really mean this: thank you.

More details on the AMC Stubbs program after the jump.

With AMC launching a new rewards program (AMC Stubs) to replace Movie Watcher, they’ve invited three movie “bloggers” (Mike Eisenberg of ScreenRant, Wilson Morales of BlackFilm, and me) to participate in a competition to visit the most AMC Theatres and see as many movies as possible from April 15 – May 6, 2011.  While I have no idea how I’m going to find the time to do this, I’m going to try my best as the winner gets a 5-Year Movie Pass to AMC Theatres!  Yes… 5 years of free movies!  As someone who loves going to a theater to watch movies, needless to say, I’d love to win.  Over the next three weeks, I’ll post a few updates about how things have been going on Collider.  But for more real time updates, follow me on Twitter.

While most of this contest falls on my shoulders, there is a way for some of you to help me win.  With this promotion about the new AMC Stubs Card, if you have the card, you can vote for me.  The one with the most votes get a huge number of points and it will definitely help one of us win.  Details on how to help me out and what you should know about the Stubbs program after the jump.