Avatar's Blu-Ray Problems

I may have been the last person to see Avatar. I was happy that Avatar came out on Blu-Ray and we could purchase it. It's one of the few purchases I've made of a movie I had not already seen. After finally becoming engulfed with the spectacle that is Avatar, I can say that I was completely impressed with the movie. Sadly, I was NOT impressed with the Blu-Ray disc. So before you buy it, here are some things you may want to know before buying.

There is no 3D version. I thought maybe I should by the 3D version since everyone I know that saw it said it was amazing in 3D. But there isn't one yet.

Your Blu-Ray player may need the latest firmware update to play it. Mine did. I bought my Pioneer Blu-Ray player in December 2009 and Avatar was the first Blu-Ray that wouldn't play. So I went online, downloaded the firmware update and installed it. An hour later, Avatar was playing and I was in Pandora heaven.

Firmware doesnt' fix everything. Well, I was in Pandora heaven until the Hallelujah Mountain scene. The Avatar Blu-Ray decided it would show me on-screen that I was watching the Hallelujah Mountain scene. This continued for every future scene. A third of Pandora was blocked for an hour and a half. I researched this online and found out it wasn't just my movie or player. Several people in the Amazon forums had the same issue or worse with their Samsung players, Sharp players and even the downloaded version. My only current workaround was to display the pop-up menu, which only blocked a tenth of the center screen versus a third of the entire viewing area.

There are no special features. None. No behind-the-scenes, interviews, director's cut or anything. You get the Blu-Ray and the standard DVD, which I used to watch the rest of Avatar. Remember, a third of my movie was blocked for half the time!

A theater and Blu-Ray re-release are in the near future. James Cameron has indicated Avatar will probably be re-released in the summer or fall of 2010 with an additional 10 minutes of 3D footage. A 3D Blu-Ray release may also happen next year if 3D TVs pick up in sales.

I could very well take back my Avatar Blu-Ray, but I'm confident that the next firmware update will fix my issue. My workaround is tolerable for now because Avatar is such a beautiful movie. Maybe I'll go see the re-release later this year.