On 6.17 I noted that the 50th anniversary Ben-Hur Bluray will, of course, arrive almost 52 years after William Wyler‘s film opened on 11.18.59. In response Warner Home Video’s Ronnee Sass has forwarded the following statement from Warner Home Video exec vp Jeff Baker:

“At WB we are more than acutely aware of the age of Ben-Hur — i.e., 52 in 2011. It was our intention to release this film in Blu-ray in 2009, but the film restoration was complex, and the 8K scan was the optimal solution vs. 2K or 4K, therefore we took our time and did it right to deliver the best possible resolution for the consumer. Therefore we are celebrating the 50th anniversary in 2011, and considering that it is more than 50 years, we do not see this as being disingenuous, particularly due to the circumstances surrounding this restoration. After all, we are not advancing the clock and celebrating the 55th or 60th.”

The Ben-Hur restoration, just to be clear, was completed from an 8k scan of the original 65mm camera negative, with a 6k finish making this the highest resolution restoration ever completed by Warner Bros.

I tried to get into a couple of Guard screenings at Sundance…couldn’t. Tried to make an LA screening last week…didn’t. Want to attend a screening next Monday evening (6.13)…we’ll see how that goes. Something is holding me back.

From my 9.13 Toronto Film Festival review: “Who in Errol Morris‘s Tabloid can you believe? Or rather, who do you want to believe? Or what slant on the Tabloid story do you feel better about accepting as probable truth?

“That’s the key consideration, I think. Apart from the fact that everyone should try to see this deliciously entertaining, thoroughly bizarre comedy doc.”

Tabloid will ostensibly open via Sundance Selects on 7.15 (although you’d never it from the website).

On 5.27 I described Elle Fanning‘s big moment in Super 8 — a moment that suspends the film in a kind of crush vibe for about 30 or 40 seconds.

N.Y. Times critic A.O. Scott agrees. Having joined the cast of a super-8 zombie movie called The Case, Fanning’s Alice character delivers “the best moment in both that movie and Super 8, a scene in which Ms. Fanning and her character, in different ways, demonstrate their impressive acting chops.”

The assumption is that all slips of the tongue are 100% Freudian — that all accidental utterances are very much on the speaker’s mind. I guess there’s no other explanation. I love the pleading look (“No…tell me I didn’t just say that!”) flashing on the face of WDBJ anchor Holly Pietrzak. Uploaded on 6.8; famous forever.

Last night’s Super 8 premiere offered (a) a spritzy party vibe inside the Fox Village lobby and theatre before the film began (i.e., roam-around, schmooze-around) and (b) a post-premiere outdoor street soiree with all kinds of Middle-American munch food (corndogs, taters, Fatburgers). I chatted with director JJ Abrams and almost everyone else except costars Elle Fanning, who apparently left the after-party early on, and Kyle Chandler.

Elle Fanning facing shouting-animal paparazzi prior to last night’s Super 8 premiere screening at Westwood’s Fox Village — Thursday, 6.8, 6:55 pm.

Super 8 producer Steven Spielberg came to the screening (black garb, black baseball hat, white hair) but didn’t attend the party.

I spoke before the screening to Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay about the Chicago wing flyers he used for his upcoming film, and my theory that most people don’t really believe anything they see on the screen these days, etc. He told me about the 3-D helmet cameras that he used to shoot the stunt flyers, and expressed interest in my Canon Elph 300 (which I always have slung around my neck). My parting comment was a recommendation that he see Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Drive.

Super 8 costar Ben Gavin (who plays one of the deputies), star Joel Courtney during the wind-down phase of outdoor Super 8 after-party.

Pete Hammond, Super 8 director JJ Abrams.

(l. to r.) Super 8 costars Gabriel Basso, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee.

Thursday, 6.8, 9:45 pm

Tom Cruise, Elle Fanning — pic stolen from Huffington Post Entertainment page.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay

Super 8 costar Jessica Tuck, whose looking-out-the-window-at-Joe moment at the very beginning provides Super 8‘s first emotional touchstone.

Super 8 costars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning.

I’m not saying TotalFilm‘s Jamie Graham is necessarily a guy to listen to, but why the mysterious shroud of silence hanging over those Bad Teacher screenings that happened last weekend? I only know that the trailer-fed optimism of early May seems to be ebbing.

No unshot movie will ever fill me with such apoplectic loathing as Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski‘s The Lone Ranger, which will hit screens in December 2012. There’s no option for Johnny Depp but to portray Tonto as a Native American Jack Sparrow. And poor Armie Hammer, such a perfect fit as the Winklevoss twins in The Social Network, using his straightforward blue-eyed jockiness to play the Lone Ranger? In a script written by the thoroughly corrupted Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio? The only element affording a sliver of hope is that Revolutionary Road screenwriter Justin Haythe is co-credited.

Earlier today Boxoffice.com‘s Phil Contrino told me he’s predicting a $31 million opening for Super 8 this weekend.

“I think the opening weekend is not nearly as important for a film like this because it has the potential to show some serious staying power once all the secrets are out and people start talking about it,” Contrino observes. “People are too quick to label something a flop. With Super 8, I want to see how it does over the course of three weekends, not just one.

“The elephant in the room is X-Men: First Class. The buzz surrounding that one is very strong, and that’s going to hurt Super 8 since they are both gunning largely for males 18 to 34. X-Men will certainly have a direct impact on Super 8‘s opening.”

Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone and I recorded Oscar Poker #35 a day and a half ago. We discussed Beginners and X-Men: First Class, but mainly got into speculating about the likeliest 2011 Best Picture nominees. Here’s a non-iTunes, stand-alone link.