Photo by AP Photo/20th Century Fox
The character Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, and Jake, voiced by Sam Worthington, are shown in a scene from "Avatar."
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Before he takes moviegoers deep beneath the Pandoran sea, James Cameron hopes they'll go for an extended tour of the fictional planet he introduced in "Avatar."
"Avatar: Special Edition," which includes 9 minutes of new footage, opens in 3-D theaters worldwide Friday, including in Memphis.
A reluctant hero. An epic journey. A choice between the life he left behind and the incredible new world he's learned to call home. Return ...
Rating: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking
Length: 170 minutes
Released: August 27, 2010 Nationwide
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
"I'm trying to use the technology to keep people interested and enthused about the 'Avatar' universe, because it's going to be a long time before we get another 'Avatar' movie done," the filmmaker said in a recent interview.
Cameron, 56, already has plans for the "Avatar" sequels.
He's also got a submarine to build, cameras for the Mars rover to design, an underwater 3-D camera to upgrade and maybe even an ocean-related feature to make.
But first, he had to select and perfect new "Avatar" footage and persuade distributor 20th Century Fox to re-release the film theatrically in 3-D.
Cameron said there are "hundreds of thousands, if not millions" of people who wanted to see the movie in 3-D but didn't get the chance because "Avatar" was edged out of 3-D theaters by other scheduled 3-D releases. Since then, the number of available 3-D screens has doubled internationally, he said.
Fox executives said in a statement that they have been "inundated with requests to re-release the film in theaters in 3-D" since it wrapped its original run in March.
"Avatar" boasts the biggest box-office take in history, collecting $2.7 billion worldwide.
Bringing the movie back to the big screen is an experiment inspired by initial fan response to the movie, Cameron said.
"It was the most pirated film in history at the same time it was the most attended film in movie theaters," he said, adding that some who saw the movie on DVD or on their computer screens may want to enjoy it in all its big-screen, 3-D glory.
The new footage is sprinkled throughout the movie. One bit focuses on the death of one of the planet's native humanoids, the tailed, blue Na'vi. His death is hinted at in the original film, but in the extended version, "We actually see him die," Cameron said.
Another scene follows a hunt for one of Pandora's bizarre creatures in a "rousing action-adventure, pulse-pounding kind of scene," he said.
The extended version will appear on a special-edition DVD to be released in November. It will also include a more expanded, "alternate reality version" of the film that is 16 minutes longer than the original, Cameron said.
He has already begun technical development on an "Avatar" sequel that will focus on the planet's ocean environment.
Cameron is excited by the promise of 3-D and a future in which every screen is dimensionalized -- which he thinks is just a few years away.
"You'll still need glasses in the movie theater, but you'll have video, you'll have laptops, all your small devices, the iPads and all that stuff will be without glasses," he said. "We're basically revolutionizing how people watch stuff."
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