Avatar: The Way of The Water Digital Set to Release March 28 With Three Hours of New Bonus Footage

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of the Water makes history as the third highest-grossing film of all time and will release digitally on March 28 with three hours of new never before seen extras.

Avatar: Way of the Water will be available on March 28 at all major digital retailers, which include Prime Video, Apple TV, Vudu, and Movies Anywhere, with 192 minutes of featured runtime. Fans were behind the massive success of the film, with it pulling in $2.2 billion worldwide and receiving four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

The digital release will allow users to view the film in 4K Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos audio giving viewers an immersive experience. When speaking with Academy Award and two-time Golden Globe-winning producer Jon Landau at a special intimate meet-up at James Cameron’s Lightstorm studio last week, he mentioned that Avatar: Way of the Water is created and color corrected for each viewing experience, and the digital format will be different than the theater format of the film. Landau produced the two highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar and Titanic.

Glitter had the opportunity to preview some of the three hours of never-before-seen bonus content featuring the filmmakers, cast, and crew, and we were blown away at what’s in store for fans. The details for the behind-the-scenes footage were incredible, and fans will get a chance to see how the magic of 3D and motion capture performance happens. We also were able to tour the Lightstorm soundstage and preview the 3D cameras used to capture the performances. Academy Award and BAFTA winner for Best Visual Effects for his work on Avatar, Richard Baneham, demonstrated the process of actually capturing footage and what steps are taken to send the results off to Wētā FX. Richard is currently VFX Supervisor and Co-Producer on the up-and-coming Avatar sequels.

The bonus footage includes Inside Pandora’s Box, a series of featurettes on the challenges facing cast and crew as filmmakers devise new technologies to push the limits of cinema. They are broken down into the following vignettes.

• Building the World of Pandora – James Cameron and a team of talented artists combine years of research with their design skills to build the world of Pandora with new characters, creatures, indigenous clans, underwater environments, and the take-no-prisoners hard-tech world of the RDA.
• Capturing Pandora – James Cameron’s approach to performance capture has the cast performing in a volume rigged with infrared cameras to capture their movement, and head rig cameras to capture emotion on their faces with only the boundaries of imagination to limit them.
• The Undersea World of Pandora – Co-production designer Dylan Cole and his team conceive of the marine creatures required for Avatar: The Way of Water while James Cameron and his stunt team devise extraordinary means to bring those creatures to life in a performance capture tank.
• The Challenges of Pandora’s Waters – James Cameron tackles the “non-trivial challenge” of performance capture above and below the water’s surface, utilizing a wave machine and current generator to reproduce ocean conditions, and underwater vehicles to replicate creature movement.

• Pandora’s Returning Characters – James Cameron reunites with his returning cast – Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. Together they discuss the amazing evolution of their characters in Avatar: The Way of Water.
• Pandora’s Next Generation – Meet the talented young newcomers who have been cast as the next generation of Na’vi and follow them through the adventure of making Avatar: The Way of Water.
• Spider’s Web – James Cameron introduced the human character of Spider into the fabric of Pandora – thus creating a host of technological challenges on set…and an incredible journey for the young actor, Jack Champion.
• Becoming Na’vi – The Avatar cast is immersed in the culture of the indigenous Na’vi, living off the land in the Hawaiian rainforest and training in a multitude of disciplines in preparation for their roles.
• The Reef People of Pandora – In true James Cameron-style, the Metkayina reef clan has been developed with great attention to detail, bearing unique evolutionary traits and a culture – with new dwellings, new clothes and different way of life – all a result of living off the ocean.
• Bringing Pandora to Life – Once James Cameron completes his virtual production process, every sequence is turned over to Wētā FX to bring Pandora to life – with unprecedented advancements in facial performance, environments and making CG water look real.
• The RDA Returns to Pandora – Co-production designer Ben Procter and his team present an armada of new vehicles and human technologies that the RDA brings to Pandora – in concept design and with practical builds.
• The New Characters of Pandora – Meet the important new characters of the Avatar saga played by Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell and Jemaine Clement.
• The Sounds of Pandora – Hear how James Cameron worked with composer Simon Franglen to create the distinctive music of The Way of Water while building on James Horner’s brilliant score for Avatar, and learn how Chris Boyes created the immersive sounds of Pandora.
• New Zealand – Pandora’s Home – The production of the Avatar sequels is so thoroughly ensconced in New Zealand that James Cameron considers The Way of Water a “New Zealand film.” Hear reflections from the cast and crew, including the remarkable New Zealand crew, on making the film.

Pandora’s Box will also include additional featurettes that highlight special teams within the production as shown below.

• Casting – Discover the screen tests that won the talented young cast their roles in Avatar: The Way of Water.
• Stunts – The Avatar stunt team isn’t just creating breathtaking action, they’re driving the story. From racing underwater on ilus, flying the skies on ikrans, to maneuvering RDA speed boats, the stunt team leaves you breathless and wanting more.
• The Lab – Explore the Lightstorm Lab, the backbone of virtual production for the Avatar films. Comprised of specialized teams, the Lab builds & supports every aspect of the production – environments, motion edit, Kabuki, sequence, post-viz and software development.
• The Troupe – Avatar’s Troupe is the Swiss Army Knife of acting, while playing dozens of roles on set, in the performance capture volume and on live-action sets, they bring life to Na’vi clans and RDA Recoms. They also play Na’vi-scale puppets on the live-action sets.

Finally, the extended footage includes marketing materials & music video used to build audience awareness of the film as follows.

• Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) Music Video – Multi-Grammy-winning, music superstar, The Weeknd, performs his emotionally packed end title song in the official music video for the smash hit “Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength).”
• Theatrical Trailers 1 & 2 – Avatar: The Way of Water used two theatrical trailers to engage the audience. The first was a teaser trailer released 7 months before the film. The second was a standard trailer that premiered 5 weeks before the film’s release.

Avatar: The Way of the Water cast includes, Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri, Sigourney Weaver as Kiri Stephen, Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, Kate Winslet as Ronal, Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, Jamie Flatters as Neteyam, Britain Dalton as Lo’ak, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss as Tuk, Jack Champion as Spider, Bailey Bass as Tsireya, Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellman, CCH Pounder as Mo’at Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, Brendan Cowell as Scoresby, and Giovanni Rabisi as Parker Selfridge.

Make sure to pick up your copy of this extraordinary release on March 28 and enjoy the original motion picture soundtrack here.