"Avatar" is still very much alive at the box office, picked to do another $20 million or so this weekend and set to own the 3D universe until at least March 5, when Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" arrives.
Still, director James Cameron seems to have moved on already to the DVD and Blu-ray releases.
"It's all right on schedule," Cameron told the Wall Street Journal. "We'll do the Blu-ray and the standard-def DVD April 22, that's our plan as of right now, and that'll be pretty much bare bones. And then we'll do a value-added DVD and a 3D Blu-ray in I think November sometime."
On Thursday, a Fox spokesman told TheWrap that the 3D Blu-ray technology is still in the developmental stage and that the 3D release won't occur in November.
Separately, Cameron told MTV Wednesday that 10-12 minutes of deleted scenes -- taken out to make the 160-minute film play better in theaters -- will be included in the later robusto 3D Blu-ray and DVD versions.
Among the deleted footage are protagonist Jake Sully's (actor Sam Worthington) Na'vi initiation, more from his blue-hot love scene with a motion-captured Zoe Saldana, as well as scientist Grace (Sigourney Weaver) bonding with the big blue natives.
"It's all wonderful stuff, but it was sort of bogging down the middle section of the movie," Cameron told MTV. "So there's plenty for a value-added DVD experience on this film. Of course, we'll have to go punch it all up and get it all mixed and stuff like that."
As for the 3D version, Sony recently released its first 3D Blu-ray player, and the selection of 3D televisions should be somewhat robust by the time a 3D disc version of "Avatar" rolls out.
