And so the big 'Avatar' craziness begins!

It's Monday Aug. 17, 2009, the release of James Cameron's "Avatar" is still four months away, and yet, viewers eager to see the film are going nuts. Why? In case you haven't heard yet, 20th Century Fox will show an extended preview of the 3D spectacle on Aug. 21, and today was the day people could order their tickets.

Well... that was the idea. A special ticket page on AvatarMovie.com was supposed to go live at noon PDT today, but many users logging on only got a bold error message in return. This is not a lie, because I myself reloaded the page five times and always received the same message. But no ticket information...

At this hour, the problem is fixed, and many showings are already sold out. So, what was the problem? Well, according to the folks behind the Web site, the servers crashed as a load of visitors stormed the site. Isn't that nuts? I mean, only a few people in the world have actually seen a bit of footage from the film, and only a couple of stills have been released so far. Yet, everybody's going crazy over this.

Anyway, those lucky enough to score a ticket will see extended footage from the 3D project this Friday. The worldwide trailer launch will be presented in all formats, and it will also be available online. For more ticket information go to the site. Here in San Francisco, all showings are gone, but at this hour, San Jose still has some tix available.

"Avatar" takes cinemagoers to a spectacular new world beyond their imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver.