As we mentioned earlier in the week, the Avatar special edition DVD and Blu-ray will feature sixteen minutes of new footage when it drops in November. As James Cameron promotes the theatrical re-release of his fantasy epic, the director shed some light on what we might see in this new footage. Cameron and his team refer to the sequence as “the Earth opening”, four-and-a-half minutes that depict a “polluted, dystopian Earth.” The Earth opening is fully realized, but Cameron estimates that forty-five minutes worth of unfinished deleted scenes will also be included on the box set.
Check out Cameron’s comments, in which he explains why he cut the scene and how the opening fits into the new edit, after the jump.
When asked in an interview The Oregonian [via Hollywood Elsewhere] if we would ever see the Earth-set Avatar scenes, Cameron responded,
“Well, if you buy the box set in November, you can sit down, and in a continuous screening of the film, watch it with the Earth opening... It works very well. It just takes a long time to get the movie started. You have to be sort of predisposed to like the movie like a fan, you know what I mean? And then you can sit and you can have a great ride — a different telling of Avatar. Not inconsistent — it’s just the stuff that happened off-camera.
We call it ‘the Earth opening.’ It’s about four-and-a-half minutes of stuff. And it was in for the longest time. It was very late in the day that we took it out. I walked in one day and said to my two editors, ‘Guys, I want each of you to cut a new version of the start of the film, reel one, that doesn’t have any Earth in it at all.’ And they looked at me like I was out of my mind. And I said, ‘No — it’s gonna work.’ They had to figure out the details. I said, ‘Just grab a couple of things to use as flashbacks, and start it in space when Jake opens his eyes.’ “
This is my favorite kind of Cameron story. One where he walks in a room, adamant about something, and everyone thinks it’s a crazy idea. And then the movie makes $2.7 billion.
Cameron followed up with a bit more detail on the presentation of the box set,
“In November, you can buy a box set with all the bells and whistles. It’s got like forty-five minutes of unfinished deleted scenes that exist in a supplement where you can just play the scenes individually.
But it’s all a big negotiation with the studios; how much money do they want to spend on these sort of revisionist versions of the movie? Because on the whole Earth opening, the visual effects weren’t done, and we had to go back and spend a million bucks or whatever to get those shots done. So there’s a price-tag dangling from anything that gets re-inserted. It’s not like ‘Apocalypse Now,’ where they blow up a Vietnamese village and the footage is done — there are no visual effects after the fact. We’ve got to go back, and it’s our time and our energy and the studio’s money to re-create this stuff.
But (in November) you’ll be able to watch a sixteen-minute-longer version of the film that’s a nice, flowing, cohesive version of the movie. If you just want to wallow in Avatar for three hours, I can get that for you.”
David S. Goyer Says He Wrote MAN OF STEEL “As If It Were Real,” Not a Lowly Comic Book Movie
Robert Downey Jr. Talks IRON MAN 3, a Cool Action Sequence, Rhodey’s Part in the Film, and More
Jude Law Talks about His Role in GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL; Provides Updates on SHERLOCK HOLMES 3, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, and DON HEMINGWAY
Nick Offerman Talks THE LEGO MOVIE; Says He Plays a Pirate Named Metalbeard and Compares Film to THE WIZARD OF OZ or WILLY WONKA
STAR WARS News: Film Might Have Female Protagonist; Abrams Comments on Getting the Gig; May Not Have Agreed to 2015 Release
How many yachts does this dickhead need?? Who is seriously a big enough loser to spend another red cent on a few extra minutes this guy’s been holding out on that could’ve easily been added to the deleted scenes of the DVD?
dude… seriously.. r u the biggest loser… u have no idea of the hard work tht goes into making a movie… and u certainly dont have any appreciation for tht kind of work.. u r just one of tht guy who is only into himself.. thinking about urself…and about James Cameron.. i am not his die hard fan but certainly i have lots of respect for him.. even to make a 1 minute scene of wat u have seen in this movie requires lots of hard work and time and money to render all those stuffs.. without a good hardware tht movie would have taken years to render.. leave the making out of it.. so if u dont know anything.. jst shut your mouth.. no one is forcing u to watch that movie..
Lol… You come in here just to bash. You have no manhood. Fìskxawngìri tsap’alute sengi oe Biks.
Lol… You come in here just to bash. You have no manhood. Fìskxawngìri tsap’alute sengi oe Biks.
That movie was to long the first time I saw it.
That movie was to long the first time I saw it.
Bring out the box of tissue’s for the weepers!
end of line
If the extra scenes actually add story to the original film that was lacking just that, I’m all for a new version of the film. That’s pretty much the only thing I didn’t like about the film. While it had some character development, I really wasn’t in touch with them, I couldn’t have cared less if any of them died. I know Cameron is able to deliver on that part, I know he had a huge vision and even with all the money spent on the tech to bring it to life wasn’t enough, so he had to take his losses. Which turned into gains. Hopefully we see a longer version. And on the DVD/blu-ray format, you don’t have to watch it all at once. But let me tell you one thing, watching all of the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions all in one day was friggin awesome!!!
Lord of the Rings Extended Editions were truly amazing for diehards. They weren’t just missing scenes but re-edits and it really did flow better. But soooo long. I haven’t watched those movies in years because who has the time. Would be cool if the extra footage helps flesh out Avatar in a similar way. There’s only so much that can be done to the main character arc, however.
stop attacking Cameron? YOU ALL WENT TO SEE AVATAR even if you hate, so screw yourselves!
I did, but I didn’t pay for it.
the corniest movie ever made. takes 1/2 billion to tell a rehashed story of tarzan? white man infiltrates indigenous tribe; masters the big orange shitbird when none of the indigenous people can; marries the whiny bigmouth daughter of the chief; leads indigenous tribe in war against big bad whitey who’s out to take their oil; what? tech replaces good storytelling. good to look at now, but what about ten years when effects will be ten times better? this movie will be as embarrassing as a big wig on a midget.
Whoever the hell you are you need to get a life. Is that all you do, rant on about how YOU dislike a movie? Don’t you even have the courtesy to use the correct terminology?
well done Mr C. even if it was 10 hours long it still wouldnt be long enough for most of us Avatar fans. It is the movie of the century and will always hold prime position in most peoples hearts.
I want all the Avatar they can fit in the box
I want to wallow in Avatar for three hours. I’ve already taken the day off of work.