Get your introduction to the future of cinema in little more than a weeks time, if you’re lucky. Apparently, as the LA Times reported yesterday, “Avatar Day” will consist of a mere two screenings of the 16-minute sneak preview of James Cameron’s Avatar next Friday, one at 6pm and one at 6:30pm, only in IMAX theaters. And the only way to get in is to acquire one of the first-come, first-serve tickets made available this Monday via the film’s website.

I’ve never been very good at getting tickets for high-demand concerts and events, so I’m going to assume I’ll be missing this special promotion. Which is fine by me. I’m pretty much over the entire idea of being teased by movie marketing. Besides, the current hype circling this “groundbreaking” 3D sci-fi movie has me expecting to be disappointed. And judging by some of the comments posted around the blogosphere, there are many people not interested in making the effort Monday.

Seriously, let’s just wait until the whole thing arrives in theaters this December. And in the meantime, go see another, more modest harbinger of the future of science fiction cinema this weekend: District 9.

Also, check out a sampling of film blog commentary on and commenter responses to the details of “Avatar Day,” and whether it’s really that anticipated, after the jump:

• Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects says to be ready Monday:
  

  Good luck on getting yours before they all run out the door. Set your alarms for stun that day, make sure you have your typing and mouse-clicking fingers properly prepared, and here we……go.

• Commenting on that post, “tenno” wonders why we should bother:
  

  I don’t get it. I just want to watch the movie not an extended trailer or whole scene out of context. And are there really that many 3D IMAX theaters it so convenient to get to just for 16 minutes then leave?

• Mark at I Watch Stuff thinks you should bother in order to brag, and because you’re going to curiously watch it when it ends up online anyway:
  

  So, if you want to be sci-fi geek alpha dog for a day, you’d better camp out and be there when the internet opens this Monday to ensure you get a ticket. Otherwise you’re going to have to watch the shitty camera-phone bootleg I end up posting.

• Ross Miller at ScreenRant thinks this is a bold marketing move:
  

  Although I’m not surprised Avatar is starting to get pushed by the studios on the general public, it’s still quite surprising to see them do this sort of a preview. Most movies just have the general trailers, posters, TV spots and so forth, but they’re really going all out.

• Commenting on that post, “pumpkin_king” declares his patience:
  

  I’m excited about this movie, and I think it may be a good thing there’s no IMAX theater in my city to tempt me to see the small screening. I’d rather have my mind blown when I see the movie in it’s entirety.

• Adam Rosenberg at MTV Movies Blog believes theaters are going to be a madhouse that Friday evening:
  

  The standalone screenings will supposedly run between 6pm and 7pm, with two showings during that hour. Just late enough to ensure that after-work crowds can arrive to see the hundreds of fanboys and girls who lined up earlier in the day. Oy, this is going to be a mess. Even the IMAX folks think so; their Filmed Entertainment chief Greg Foster said, “I think it’s going to be a bit of a stampede.”

  A bit? Ha!

• Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema believes cinemas should be prepared with necessary items for sale:
  

  Specially designed Yoda-adorned Depends adult diapers will be provided free at the concession stand with any large popcorn purchase and Wetnaps will be available for free in the lobby after the show.

• Alex Billington at FirstShowing thinks you shouldn’t just wait for it; you should be a part of history:
  

  We’re guessing that they’ll also show the new trailer which hits on the 21st as well (or you’ll be able to catch that online or while you’re at the theater anyway). So if you don’t make it into one of these showings, don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get a glimpse at Avatar in the trailer. This sounds like it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event - so don’t miss it!

• Commenting on that post, “Voice of Reason” only sees it as significant to the history of marketing:
  

  We all know this is a marketing ploy and when everyone leaves the theatre they will ultimately be annoyed they cant see more, SO…Waiting in a long line —likely over an hour— for JUST 16 minutes of a movie you will eventually pay to see JUST to feed the hype and promote the movie seems like a gigantic waste of time.

  To me, at least.

• Elisabeth Rappe at Cinematical recognizes the importance of “Avatar Day”:
  

  So, August 21 is the day we’ll all be members of the Avatar cult or scoffing at the whole idea of it. From where I sit, the reaction to the footage is going to be just as interesting as finally seeing the technology that no one could really describe. This is a big moment to see how it flies with the general moviegoing public who has no idea that Cameron has anything in the pipeline. Will they be impressed? Will they shrug it off as just another CG or mo-cap movie?

• Commenting on that post, “MarkH” doubts the general public’s awareness of “Avatar Day”:
  

  Call me strange, but I’m having a hard time getting interested in an allegedly huge movie, coming out in just 4 months, which is getting practically zero mainstream promotion.

• Mark Graham at Vulture points out that you can also wait for the tickets to be available online later than Monday, but not for free:
  

  If you plan on scoring some of these highly coveted free passes, we highly suggest you use the next four days to practice your speed-typing skills. Otherwise, get ready to crack open your piggy bank to spring for tix on Craigslist!

• Simon Dang at The Playlist wonders how far some geeks will go to get the tickets via Craigslist:
  

  Expect people to go apeshit here, the Internet to break and Craigslist to light up with offers of sex in exchange for tickets. Then again, most of the dudes interested probably don’t have much to offer, but there is that small faction of geek ladies who might not be completely repulsive.

• Seth Abramovitch at Movieline also foresees Craigslist scalping and speculates as to what James Cameron’s intro to the footage will be like:
  

  Now, all that’s left is to figure out how to get into one of the hundreds of Imax theaters showing 15 minutes of James Cameron’s new movie, preceded by a short filmed intro from the director instructing you to “enjoy having your brains collapse beneath my Almighty-like grasp on the next generation of f**k-yeah filmmaking. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. Roll it!”

• Vince Mancini at FilmDrunk has reason to believe this is even more ridiculous than the trailer teaser trend:
  

  This is how big a deal James Cameron’s Avatar is: on Monday, tickets to the 16-minute IMAX trailer playing August 21st will be distributed online.  Tickets to a free screening of a trailer.  Are available for free on Monday.  And we’re reporting it on a Thursday.

• Commenting on that post, “Patty Boots” displays reluctance and doubt:
  

  Plus, I have a hard time trusting the guy whose last movie was Titanic.

  I’m a nerd, and I still don’t get the crazy hype for this movie.

• Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has a lot to say and ask about this promotion, and he follows his points/questions with a comparison/memory:
  

  This will be the most exuberant preview happening since the first-ever showing of the Phantom Menace trailer in November of ‘98. I was there at the Fox Village theatre. It was that film’s absolute finest hour. It was all downhill after it opened, esteem-wise. But the trailer-watching vibe was phenomenal. The house was charged, people were howling, Paul Thomas Anderson was there, etc.

• Commenting on that post, “Steven Kar” also offers a comparison/memory:
  

  It seems that getting the chance to see this thing will be more of a hassle than the time I got tickets to the 2-day Pearl Jam concert at Madison Square Garden.

  I think I’ll just watch the trailer on my laptop.

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com looks forward to reading the mixed reactions to the footage:
  

  I’m kind of dying to see the response. I imagine that some of the film’s climactic battle will be present in this footage; when the responses come in the important thing will be to cut through the noise of the haters and the fanboys and find the people in the middle who will actually deliver an honest opinion.

• Commenting on a post at Ain’t It Cool News, “Chariowalda_Barbarossa” claims this promo reeks of desperation:
  

  This free Avatar day seems kind of pointless, those who are bothering to get tickets and come to their next Imax theatre for a free preview are exacly those poeple who’d buy a ticket for the film anyway, even if they doubled the prices.

  I think they are desperate to generate some hype. They thought the fans salivating in eager anticipation would be enough to get the buzz going, but they’ve waited too long. The fanboy geeks, annoyed by all the secrecy are beginning to turn aganst the movie. See this site..

  By now the bosses must have realized that, after all, it’s just a movie they have there, not the second coming of Christ. And a darn expensive movie. And a movie they’ve been keeping so close to the chest the general public won’t even notice when it opens.

• Meredith Woerner at io9 wonders if this promo will influence further movie marketing:
  

  Next Monday the mad dash for free Avatar preview tickets begins. Should James Cameron’s preview endeavor be a success, it will most likely change the way we discover big-budget movies forever.

• Commenting on that post, “TemporalSword” raises the idea of going to the sneak but skipping the movie:
  

  The full film itself won’t be released until Dec. 18.

  The film? Who cares about the film? I thought this was all about living in the hype.