Avatar back in theaters

[Smokey]

I think now we know why the April 22 bluray disc release was not 3D

[markw]

I think it's just a cheezy way to extort even more money out if the public.

It was good, not great, to begin with and, IMNSHO, overly long considring the skimpy plot to begin with. If it weren't for SFX, it would have been just another dog.

....and I used to rail on Pink Floyd for remastering/releasing their stuff every few years.

[3LB]

I agree with Markw, this is a cheap ploy, but typical. We've already covered all the borrowed and commandered aspects of storyline, plot devices and art design. On the big screen the first time, its a great spectical. Its still quite the spectical on bluray, but enough already. Beyond the SFX, the actual story becomes thinner and even more juvenile with multiple veiwings. Time for Cameron to co-opt some new ideas and come out with a new virtual amusement ride.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Actually it is not a cheap ploy at all. When Avatar left the theater, it was still making a bundle of money...enough to keep it in the top 6 week to week revenue charts. At the time there was just not enough 3D theaters, and the ones that were there were already booked for the next 3D film to be released. So Avatar was prematurely bumped while it was making a boat load of cash for 20th Century.

Now there a lull in 3D releases, so this is a perfect time to re-release it and see if it has some legs. Also there are a lot more 3D theaters, so when the next release comes it will lose some theaters, but not all of them.

[markw]

.. I believe* they are going to release a 3D blu-ray later this year with even more unreleased footage. That, to me, seems cheezy as well. If that's the case, show it in the theatres.

For that matter, why didn't they simply put the additional footage in the original DVD/Blu-Ray releases? Planning ahead to soak the consumer?

At least Pink Floyd waited a few years and/or for new media before re-realeasing their work.

* I'm open to correction here.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

.. I believe* they are going to release a 3D blu-ray later this year with even more unreleased footage. That, to me, seems cheezy as well. If that's the case, show it in the theatres.

For that matter, why didn't they simply put the additional footage in the original DVD/Blu-Ray releases? Planning ahead to soak the consumer?

At least Pink Floyd waited a few years and/or for new media before re-realeasing their work.

* I'm open to correction here.

Mark, the studio forced Camron to cut the picture down from its current release time, so there is no way they could show the extra footage in the theater.

There are rights and clearances that must be obtained for all extra content(except the movie itself), so they may not have had enough time to get the clearances, and meet the release window to DVD and Blu ray.

Some things the studio's do are a rip off, and some others things have perfectly legit reasons why they cannot be done.

[Geoffcin]

Wow, anti-Avatar sentiment running high eh? I'm going to see it again because I want to. Say what you will about the plot, but Avatar's destiny is to be the film that brought to screen what theater 3D tech is capable of.

How could providing what people want be a crass ploy? There's millions of people champing at the bit to see this movie again on a large 3D screen. It's what the public WANTS! The studios are tasked with providing what people want. If they don't get it right they go out of business! This is absolutely the right thing to do IMHO.

[Woochifer]

In a way, this is a throwback to the pre-VCR days when studios would regularly rerelease hit movies in theaters several months after the original run. Yeah, it's a bit cheesy that they're doing the whole "special edition" thing with 9 extra minutes of visual effects, but even Steven Spielberg went the "special edition" route with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (ooooh, we get to see the INSIDE of the spaceship!).

As T said, this is nothing more than a lull in the release schedule (Labor Day is traditionally one of the slowest moviegoing weekends, and school starts earlier this year in many areas), and Avatar can easily fill that vacuum and make more money than a lot of the newer movies. This is especially true with the IMAX screens now available after Inception ran its box office course, and no new IMAX movies due for release until Resident Evil on September 10.

The Washington Post has an interview with Cameron, and he indicated that Avatar was still going strong in March, but IMAX had a prior contractual commitment to Alice In Wonderland, so they lost all of their IMAX screens overnight, and a string of other 3D releases also began to push Avatar out of regular 3D screens. He says that they've been planning this rerelease since March because this weekend looked like the best opening for getting Avatar into the most IMAX and 3D screens.

Cameron also says in the interview that the 3D Blu-ray is at least a year away from release, so the next version coming out for the holidays will not include 3D. He wants the 3D Blu-ray for Avatar to be a big event, and there aren't enough 3D TVs in homes yet.

He's also a bit bizarre in that he likes digital IMAX (thinks that film [i.e., REAL] IMAX is a dinosaur because of its high costs) because it brings the giant screen experience to more people.