More 'Avatar' Coming in August, Plus Sequel Will Take to the Waters of Pandora
Six minutes of additional footage is on the way
Photo: 20th Century Fox
Avatar hits DVD and Blu-ray this Thursday, April 22, and James Cameron is still promoting the film as The Los Angeles Times has yet another interview with the director talking about an upcoming theatrical re-release as well as what we can expect from the now inevitable sequel.
First off, this Thursday's DVD and Blu-ray release will be a single-disc, featureless release. It's the 2D movie and nothing else. In November Fox is expected to release the "Ultimate Edition" which will include features and what I now expect will be an additional six minutes as that is what Cameron is working on for the August re-release.
"We're working on finishing an additional six minutes of the film — which includes a lot of Weta work — for a theatrical re-release in August. We were sold out of our Imax performances right up to the moment until they were contractually obligated to switch to Alice in Wonderland, so we know we left money on the table there." He continued, "So we're going to wait until there's a time to come back in, inject the new footage into the mix and see if we can interest people in the Avatar experience in theaters."
As far as 3D films go in that time frame, August has Step Up 3D (8/6) and Piranha 3D (8/27), September holds Resident Evil: Afterlife (9/10) and Zack Snyder's animated Legend of the Guardians (9/24) and in October there is Jackass 3D (10/15) and Saw VII (10/22). Not sure where Fox is looking to fit the film in, but I would suspect IMAX is the ultimate goal.
As far as the sequel goes, Cameron says the response to the film "makes certain projects [he] liked as potential films seem trivial by comparison" and "makes the idea of making another Avatar film more attractive." The goal with the sequel is to cut costs, and the time spent making it, by 25% and he doesn't sound like he's stopping at two films. "We created a broad canvas for the environment of film. That's not just on Pandora, but throughout the Alpha Centauri AB system. And we expand out across that system and incorporate more into the story – not necessarily in the second film, but more toward a third film."
The second film will explore a new environment that is obviously close to Cameron's heart, the ocean. More specifically, the oceans of Pandora. We should still expect more of the rain forests from the first film, but I guess we should expect to get wet in Avatar 2, which by the sound of it, may not be until 2013 or 2014.
You can read the complete interview right here, and the only thing I am now curious about is whether or not Cameron's environmental message may not become a bit overbearing by the second part. Audiences have a tendency to forgive certain things the first time around, but if Cameron's environmental message gets a bit too preachy in the sequel will that turn folks off? I know the likes of Matt Drudge and Andrew Breitbart won't be enthused, but what about folks simply showing up for more other-worldly sci-fi?
Read the complete article and tell me what you think, because Cameron certainly has his goals.
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I must start by saying that I loved Avatar. However, there was one major flaw in it which was its story. The typical story I believe was the major factor of it not winning at the oscars. Look how close it came without a good story. Imagine what would have happened if the story wasn't so obvious.
With that being said, I look forward to the sequal and I hope the story is better. Under water sounds awesome!
camerons the master of sequels and the master of shooting films in the water- should be epic
Six minutes?
I loved Avatar, i'm very excited for a sequel. But obviously Camerons other projects seem trivial in comparison…in comparison to what? another bazillion dollars he stands to rake in. although i am concerned about his comments about it being cheaper and taking less time, i really hope he is'nt sacrificing quality for quick profit.
Nah, that's basically a comment on how long it took to get the technology right. I don't see Cameron ever being a cheaper is better director.
Agreed, I took it as a reference to the fact that a good portion of the timeline for the current movie was creating the technology to film it, with that streamlined now it should be both more cost effective and faster. Of course if he goes ahead and turns that big motion capture warehouse they used into a big fish tank the budget's going right back up again.
I've been interesting in re-watching the film sometime, since I had mixed feelings at the end of the movie. This should fill my need for more Na'vi, I think. Or maybe a $1 rental from Redbox. I haven't decided yet.
With both "Avatar" and "How to Train Your Dragon," it seems that flying is one of the things that 3D does best, but I can truly see an ocean setting being just as immersive and beautiful. I agree with you that the environmental message might become overbearing, but the 3D possibilities of the ocean really have me excited.
And I hope "Step Up 2" 3D just bombs at the box office. Do you think people will pay extra to see that one in 3D? I think, by the fall, audiences might be smart enough to know that films like that are a waste of money in 3D.
Brad, can you fix the title of this article? The "apostrophe s" to make a plural irks me, and your site is of enough quality to avoid such things. It's "the Waters of Pandora".
I agree. The apostrophe is primarily for possessives and contractions. Only rarely is it acceptable for a plural (e.g. mind your p's and q's).
Ha, you guys are right. Didn't even notice that. Thanks for pointing it out.
Everyone check out the interview on http://www.ew.com and notice how much of an ass he seems to be. Rather arrogant and cocky if you ask me. I don't know if that is how EW portrayed him in the interview or if that's how he really is.
What I do know is that Avatar 2,3,4 etc…won't reach the financial success that the first one did. Everyone who was even slightly curious went to see that movie, even more than once. I don't think the hype will be as high for sequels. Avatar was unique and people never saw that before. Sequels to that movie will be more of the same and eventually lose what made it special.
James Cameron: "There is no such thing as overexposure."
Avatar was unique?
1) The second "Pirates" movie made more then the first (and I bet Iron Man 2 does also) and 2) movie tickets will cost about 20%+ higher by the time it comes out, so why can't Avatar 2 do better then the first?
And if anyone in the world deserves to be "arrogant and cocky", it's Cameron.
Uh, yeah it was. There was no other movie made like that before it. What else do you call it?
Underwater? hope it's not the abyss 2.0!
I liked Avatar, but I didn't think it was as great as most people made it out to be (yes, even in 3D – I'm not a fan of the format). After reading this, however, I'm actually looking forward to the whole ocean thing. Let's hope the sequel is even better.
@Brad Brevet: I know it's still early, but how much money do you see the Avatar-Rerelease making over its first weekend?
@Seiko: I'm equally puzzled by the "six minutes" James Cameron keeps going on about. I mean COME ON! I wish he would have followed the Peter Jackson model and released an extended edition with at least 20 extra minutes. While I will be in line in August to reexperience Pandora in all its 3-D wonder, I'm not so thrilled about the prospect of only "six" additional minutes.
I read somewhere (I know terrible to say that in the internet) that the reason for a smaller amount of additional footage in the re-release was because of limitations on maximum time allowed on IMAX film. Something about that 6 minutes being all the room they had. Now that isn't to say there aren't more than 6 minutes of content and who knows maybe he chucks that stuff onto the "ultimate edition" or whatever, but there could be something more to it. You'll notice he said WETA had to hammer on the footage for that extra 6 minutes so perhaps it isn't the case of just having 20 some odd minutes of production level material waiting for the Blu-ray.
I am quite surprised by all this Avatar business – mostly because of Cameron.
After he did Terminator and T2, he had the perfect opportunity to build a greater franchise with that with further sequels. Yet he chooses to create a larger franchise with a vastly inferior movie. Sure, it's the highest grossing movie of all time, but I always thought Cameron was a more 'quality over box office' type of director. I seem to have been wrong, because this whole thin appears to be a terrible money making scheme by both Cameron and Fox. I just hope that the sequels are way better than Matrix and Pirates sequels.