According to several viewers on hand last night at a James Cameron-attended screening of Avatar, the director claimed his original cut of the film ran an eye-melting 258 minutes. (The theatrical version is 162 minutes.) Among the elements removed -- and presumably forthcoming on the Avatar DVD: "A fair amount of Sigourney Weaver's scenes were deleted and other secondary characters were pared down. A sizable number of special-effects scenes were also excised including a battle between Jake's Avatar and some howling Pandoran animal. In fact the beast itself was excised completely from the final theatrical cut." If anyone happens to know the the Na'vi expression for "overkill," please pass it along in the comments. [Hollywood Elsewhere]