In what is most likely an attempt to squeeze more money out of a multi-billion feature, James Cameron and 20th Century Fox will be re-releasing Avatar in cinemas on the 27th of August in the form of a special edition that boasts an extra eight minutes of “never before seen footage”.
The unimaginatively named Avatar: Special Edition will be shown “exclusively in 3D” and will show some new creatures that inhabit Pandora within the new scenes. ”Audiences repeatedly told me they wanted more of Pandora, and wished they could have stayed there longer. So we’re making that possible,” James Cameron stated.
Forgive the air of cynicism that surrounds this post, if you will. I was miffed with paying a little more than I usually would for a cinema ticket to see the now standard edition of Avatar in 3D and I’m now expected to be giddy with excitement at the prospect of paying that same price to see Avatar again with just eight extra minutes. That being said, Avatar was a good watch in 3D so I may have to begrudgingly immerse myself in the world of Pandora again.
I refused to buy the bonus feature-less, 1-disc standard edition Blu-Ray of Avatar that was released a few months ago both out of principle and due to the expectation that the film would be re-released with everything that should have been included the first time around. There are plans to release the special edition on DVD & Blu-Ray at a later date, so I may find myself not returning to the cinema and holding out for the Blu-Ray – I recommend you do the same if you want to save yourself some money.
Avatar’s already garnered $2.7 billion and it wouldn’t be out of the question for it to reach the unrivalled $4 billion mark – I’m expecting hundreds of thousands of people to go and see Avatar again in the cinema on the 27th of August, along with a few who somehow missed the film the first time around.
