James Cameron’s Avatar Franchise Gets a Massive New December Release
James Cameron is giving Avatar: Fire and Ash another home-video release, and this one comes with enough behind-the-scenes material to keep Pandora fans busy for several hours. 20th Century Studios has announced a new Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray, arriving this December, with more than six hours of previously unreleased bonus features.
James Cameron is giving Avatar: Fire and Ash another home-video release, and this one comes with enough behind-the-scenes material to keep Pandora fans busy for several hours. 20th Century Studios has announced a new Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray, arriving this December, with more than six hours of previously unreleased bonus features.
The new edition builds on the sci-fi film's original 4K Blu-ray release from March, which already included roughly three hours of additional content. That means fans who pick up the Collector's Edition will have access to an extensive collection of material exploring the filmmaking process behind Cameron's latest trip to Pandora.
What's new with this release?
Among the biggest additions are Fire and Water: Making the Avatar Films, a two-part documentary exploring the production of the franchise, and a collection of deleted and extended scenes. The release also includes performance-capture demonstrations, scene breakdowns, and additional behind-the-scenes material examining how the filmmakers brought the film's elaborate digital environments and characters to life.
For fans interested in the technical side of Cameron's filmmaking, the performance-capture material could be a particular highlight. The Avatar franchise has consistently pushed the boundaries of visual effects and motion-capture technology, with Fire and Ash continuing that approach on an enormous scale.
The Collector's Edition also includes archival materials, production artwork, the screenplay, and a selection of awards-season panels featuring cast members and filmmakers. Combined with the previously released bonus features, the package offers a considerably deeper look at the production than the standard home-video edition.
What is Avatar: Fire And Ash about?
Fire and Ash follows Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family as they face another threat on Pandora, this time involving the aggressive Ash People and their leader, Varang (Oona Chaplin). Stephen Lang also returns as Colonel Miles Quaritch, whose increasingly complicated relationship with the Na'vi becomes another major part of the story.
In Polygon's review, we praised Cameron's commitment to the technical craft behind the franchise, particularly the performances and visual effects that give its digitally rendered characters a sense of physicality. The new Collector's Edition should provide a closer look at the enormous amount of work required to achieve that result.
Avatar: Fire and Ash Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray arrives Dec. 8, just in time for the holiday season.