We gotta hand it 20th Century Fox and James Cameron, they sure know how to milk a cash cow.
As you already know “Avatar” v. 1.0 hit theaters last December and utterly destroyed the box office. Then, in April, the film hit home video in a bare bones, Earth Day-tied in release, and even though it was very clearly stated that a special edition was on the way, people bought the thing anyway, making it one of the best-selling titles of the year. And now, Fox and Cameron want more of your money. This Friday, “Avatar” will be re-released in 800 theaters across North America boasting an extra 8 1/2 minutes, which if you do the math, means that if you buy a ticket, you’re essentially paying over a $1.50 for each extra minute.
Anyway, you might want to save yourself that coin as THR reports that the upcoming special edition DVD and BluRay hitting shelves in November is actually going to feature double the amount of footage hitting theaters, with 16 minutes of brand spanking new scenes that will turn your skin blue. But if you’re really hankering to re-create the three dimensional world of Pandora at home, you’ll have to wait until 2011 for the 3D home video release to hit stores. And if all that isn’t enough, you can buy your kids some back-to-school “Avatar” themed crap that if it isn’t already in stores, will be shortly.
It’s still sort of hard to believe “Avatar” is/was the game-changing cinematic event. Certainly, the number of films being shot or converted into the 3D format would be significantly less had Cameron’s film failed or even just been modestly accepted. But, it’s here to stay and with it, endless iterations of the brand across countless media for the rest of our lives.
