James Cameron’s Avatar is on the verge of receiving its second Blu-ray Disc release within the same year. Many have cried foul on Fox for double-dipping such a high-profile film so quickly, but as producer Jon Landau explained to us earlier this year, the studio and filmmakers needed the extra time to put together what they consider the definitive home video release of Avatar (not including 3D, of course).
We circled back around with Landau last week to touch base on Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and get a few burning questions about the release answered. Why is there no 7.1 audio? Why three different cuts and do the 45 minutes of deleted scenes overlap with those? Jon wouldn’t address the Blu-ray 3D version of Avatar being exclusive to Panasonic, but you can read on for the Avatar Blu-ray scoop as well as where Jon, Cameron and their team stand with Avatar 2 and Avatar 3.
What went behind the decision to include the original theatrical release, special edition and extended edition of Avatar. Wouldn’t the extended edition negate the need for the special edition?
Jon: No I think it’s about giving the fans a choice of what they want to see. For some people they might say I want to see the full 16 minutes, other people will say I don’t want to see it, I want to experience what I saw in the theaters up on the big screen and with the Blu-ray technology because it’s so great, we’re able to give them the different choices.
The new Earth footage revealed on this new release opens up a whole new aspect of the Avatar universe we haven’t seen before. What can you tell us about the state of the Earth at that time in Avatar?
Jon: The state of the Earth is I think is where we fear things are going. It’s alluded to in the course of the movie, but here now you really get to see it… over population in the streets, people out wearing masks for breathing purposes and all these different things. Its interesting because there’s certain things that won’t change, a pool table is still going to be a pool table. You know we didn’t want to make it where it was totally futuristic. There’s no flying cars, its sort of how we see things sort of evolving and technology going to Maglev trains and things like that is what is presented at the beginning.
I watched the new Avatar Blu-ray release yet but I’m confused about the 45 minutes of deleted scenes. Are those scenes entirely different?
Jon: Those are on top of the 16 minutes that are in the extended cut, and they are scenes that we’ve made available in whatever their current state was when we dropped the scenes. So everything that’s in the 16 minutes WETA Digital worked on to a full theatrical quality presentation. These other scenes, if there was a green screen there’s a green screen. There’s scenes without masks, one of the interesting things that we were able to do is that there’s a guide explaining to people what they are going to watch, so the first time someone goes to play deleted scenes a little tutorial comes up that says there’s shots with green screens, there’s shots with no masks, there’s shots with performance capture…all these different things. But because of the capabilities of Blu-ray is that you go back to the same player a different time, just pick the scene to watch you don’t get the tutorial. You can view the tutorial if you want, it’s a menu option but the first time you play no matter what scene you go to watch it gives you the tutorial to explain the different levels. I think it’s a great insight into a process… there’s shots that literally some performance capture, you see Sam and Zoe in their performance capture outfits cut right into the middle of the scene, because we never took those scenes any further then that.
What was the decision to not go with 7.1 channels of audio for the Avatar Blu-ray?
Jon: How many homes really have it? (laughs) I think that right now the other sound that people are used to…we uh, just didn’t feel the need to do it. Often time’s people do things without really thinking about what the need is or the absolute benefit for the consumer and we want to focus our attention and give the consumer something they could easily see across a wide range of people.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you plan to use BD-Live to extend the Avatar experience into 2011?
Jon: It even starts before then because even this week and stuff we’re using BD-live to make available to owners of the original Blu-ray disc additional content. They put in their Blu-rays now they can access BD-Live and see pieces of what’s on the extended set. As we move into 2011 we’re gonna have things that range from screens tests of the actors, then we’re going to be able to use it as we move into an Avatar role and use it as a way to reach people and contact them, and connect with them.
Has any design work begun for Avatar 2 and 3 or is it strictly in the story development phase?
Jon: It’s in 2 phases, it’s in story development and technology development. We have a group of people from the last movie that we’ve been able to keep involved with us…some directly with Lightstorm and some with WETA Digital and then we’re just working on how do we take everything to the next level on the next one while we’re developing the story.
And that’s your role right now in this stage of development, working within those aspects?
Jon: Working on those aspects and well working with Jim on the story and we’ll get into the design phase latter on next year.
Special thanks to Jon Landau for returning to talk with us again, to Jason Krahn for conducting the interview, and the folks at Fox and ThinkJam.
Order the three-disc Avatar: Extended Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray for $24.99 at Amazon.com.
