As if James Cameron’s Avatar didn’t make enough money in its original screening, a second theater run, and an initial home video release, a new “special edition” of the film is coming back to theaters.
The new version will have 8 additional minutes that were cut from the original theatrical release, and it will be screened exclusively in 3D and Imax 3D theaters. There will be no standard run.
Although Avatar smashed all kinds of box office records with its three-quarters of a billion dollars during its initial run, it probably could have earned even more if almost every 3D screen had to stop running Avatar and start running Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, because of contractual obligations.
In March, when Avatar began popping up again in some theaters, James Cameron told MTV, “We were still playing very strongly in 3-D theaters until a lot of our 3-D theaters went by contractual agreement to ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ So, we know people still want to have that theatrical experience. We actually think that the home experience and the theatrical experience can co-exist.”
20th Century Fox, which produced the movie, said that the explosion of 3D entertainment that happened after Avatar was released, made it decide to put the movie back on the big screens, for those who may have missed it and now want to experience the importance of Avatar.
The new run, with the 8 additional minutes of footage, will begin in theaters on August 27.
