Cameron Says ‘Avatar’ DVD, Blu-ray Will Not Have ‘Crap’

23 Mar, 2010 By: Chris Tribbey

from the Avatar event

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — For the No. 1 box office movie of all time, it may seem strange there are no bonus features on the initial DVD or Blu-ray Disc releases.

Yet if you talk to director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau, that’s the way it has to be.

“Frankly, we couldn’t put together something quickly enough,” Landau said of bonus features for a film that’s still showing in theaters. “It’s a practicality issue.”

Cameron said disc space had to be reserved for the best possible picture and audio for Avatar, which will be released April 22 on Earth Day.

“We wanted the best presentation of any film in the history of the Blu-ray and DVD formats,” Landau said.

Cameron added, half kidding: “Any time one of my films makes more than $1 billion, we leave all the crap off it. I hate watching [previews] as much as you do.”

The director, who called Avatar “the most pirated film in history,” said the film’s home video release on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was a timely decision, and piracy concerns had little to do with the street date, he said.

“We’re not even worried about piracy at this point,” Cameron said. “The wider public had made its decision: they want the high-quality experience.”

Avatar pulled in more than $2.6 billion worldwide, earned nine Oscar nominations and jumpstarted the public’s interest in 3D.

Between April 22 and November, when bonus feature-laden editions are promised to the public, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is doing something different: the studio is offering bonus features online.

Each Blu-ray and DVD sold will include a unique code that sends Avatar owners to the Web (avatarmovie.com) for limited bonus content. Fox will announce the exclusive bonuses before street date. Whatever the bonuses are, Landau said they wouldn’t compare to what fans will see on disc in November.

“It’s going to be more of a limited set of bonus features, a tease to what you’ll see in the fall,” Landau said. “[The April 22 releases] are about presentation only.

“Now we’re going to take the time and do it right.”

Deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage and a documentary “that really chronicles the filmmaker’s four-year journey” are guaranteed in November, Landau said. Cameron said November Blu-ray owners will have access to a version of the film that features a “branching” option, where fans can view unfinished scenes and pre-visualized reference shots incorporated into the film. All of it picture-in-picture, if possible, he said.

“It’ll be an unrecognizable movie, a whole new journey of Avatar,” Cameron said.

While November will offer disc extras for Avatar fans, the April 22 releases will offer something unique: disc owners will be able to adopt one of the 1 million trees Fox will help plant to promote the film and its Earth Day release date. Those who register will receive a virtual map showing where in the world their tree is planted.

“James [Cameron] and Avatar and 20th Century Fox have given a boost that, I can tell you, we appreciate worldwide,” said Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network, which is working with Fox on the tree project. “We hope this commitment from Fox to plant 1 million trees will inspire others to stand up against climate change for Earth Day.”

Cameron said Earth Day was perfect for the initial home video releases of Avatar, considering the film’s environmental messages.

“Fox has been really responsive to us in terms of this Earth Day release,” the director said. “[We] really see Avatar as a focusing point for these issues … I’m not trying to sell DVDs on the back of the hardships of the planet. I almost see it as an opportunity for Avatar to be helpful [for environmental causes].”

Cameron and Landau showed off several Blu-ray clips from Avatar March 23, detailing the painstaking process they went through to properly deliver the No. 1 box office film of all time to high-def.

“It would be a shame to hold back the Blu-ray now,” Cameron said, adding that 50% of preorders for the film have been for high-def, a number Fox couldn’t confirm. “There’s no noise, no grain. All of the visual elements from the film are outstanding.”

Looking at how the Blu-ray would show up on various HDTVs, Cameron said the team behind the Blu-ray authoring spent especially close attention to colors and details, aiming to deliver the Avatar theatrical experience to the home.

“We went through it shot by shot,” Landau said. “We really made a science of trying to optimize the viewing experience for the audience.”

However, both Cameron and Landau admitted that the real Avatar theatrical experience — 3D — was not in the immediate future for the Blu-ray format.

“We are waiting for a greater penetration in the home market,” Landau said of 3D HDTVs and 3D Blu-ray players. “We want to see how the 3D market [responds] in the short term.”

Cameron urged consumers to keep 3D in mind during their next HDTV and Blu-ray player purchases, to assure they can handle an eventual Avatar 3D release.

To promote the initial April 22 release, Fox has added a number of online promotions for the film, including “Pandorama,” which puts Avatar fans' image into various locations in the movie via a Web cam (pandorama.avatarmovie.com); “Pandorapedia,” which is an official guide to the film (pandorapedia.com); a first-ever interactive trailer that allows fans to explore frame-by-frame details and choose “hot spots” that offer detailed information about characters, locations and more; and an interactive desktop wallpaper that includes news feeds, videos, social network updates and other Avatar content.

(L-R) Mary Daily, EVP of marketing, North America, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; Simon Swart, EVP of sales to EVP & GM, North America; director James Cameron; producer Jon Landau; Mike Dunn, president, worldwide, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; and Earth Day Network president Kathleen Rogers attended the Avatar Global Media Day in celebration of the April 22 Earth Day Blu-ray Disc and DVD release at an eco-friendly residence on March 23 in West Hollywood, Calif.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Cameron Says ‘Avatar’ DVD, Blu-ray Will Not Have ‘Crap’

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