Beaks here...

I wonder why James Cameron chose to unveil the first chunk of finished footage from AVATAR in Amsterdam?

Reactions are starting to leak out of today's presentation at CineExpo in Amsterdam (despite Fox's attempts to keep any kind of impression from being reported), and, shock of shocks, they're of the "Holy Fuck!" variety. Here's a sweet tweet from Unique Cinema Systems:

"Footage from "Avatar" at #cinexpo was stunning, literally jawdropping. Amazing visuals unlike any before seen, with incredible detail."

UCS is also posting images from the AVATAR after-party, and while there's no actual footage being looped, this production artwork is pretty sumptuous.

For more, check out UCS' Twitter feed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron showed around twenty-four minutes of footage, and declared that the 3-D "renaissance" has arrived. He was joined by AVATAR cast members Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, as well as producer Jon Landau and Fox chairman Jim Gianopulus. (No Rothman, huh?) I've learned that the folks at CineExpo saw this via the RealD XL Cinema System. It was a 3D presentation on a 55 foot screen with nearly 10 foot Lamberts of light. Nifty!

Now that the cat's out of the bag, does this mean Cameron's bringing this footage to Comic Con? Or is he going to stash it and make us wait until freakin' December?

Obviously, I'll update this story if we get any more images or reactions.

As always, you should check out MarketSaw, which has been AVATAR news central throughout this film's production.

Regarding the 2-D presentation of AVATAR, the Reporter quotes Cameron as saying, "I just want to say that I think 'Avatar' is going to play great in 3-D, 2-D, any 'D.' "

ComingSoon.net has posted a detailed description of the footage.