Want Avatar on 3D Blu-ray? First, You'll Need a Panasonic TV
By Jared Newman | Friday, September 3, 2010 at 8:58 am
Nine months after Avatar’s theatrical release, it’s still regarded as the pinnacle of 3D entertainment. So it’s too bad that only buyers of Panasonic 3D televisions will get the movie when it’s released on 3D Blu-ray in December.
For an undisclosed period of time, Avatar will be bundled with Panasonic’s 3D televisions, and won’t be sold through any other means, Twice reports. Panasonic wants to make the movie available to people who have already purchased a Panasonic 3D TV, but is still working out the details. Avatar could be bundled with Panasonic 3D Blu-ray players and home theaters as well, but the company wouldn’t confirm whether this is going to happen.
Avatar isn’t the first 3-D movie to be given exclusively to a single television brand — Samsung bundles Monsters vs. Aliens, and Panasonic has offered Coraline and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. TV makers lock down these deals to convey the idea that 3D content actually exists, and Hollywood studios like the deals because they provide a guaranteed return on the 3D investment.
But as CNet points out, Avatar will likely be the first live-action 3-D Blu-ray movie available in the United States. It’s a big deal, and locking it down to one TV maker is a short-sighted move by Panasonic and 20th Century Fox, one that puts their own interests ahead of 3D’s greater well-being. The exclusive Avatar deal might boost Panasonic’s sales this holiday season, but when prospective buyers learn that almost every other 3D Blu-ray disc is also tied down to specific televisions, at the expense of having lots of movies on store shelves, they might sour on the idea of 3D TV altogether.
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September 3rd, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Wow, that is really silly !
The chances for 3d TV to succeed are low to begin with, as a lot of people don't see the point, and there really isn't too many 3d movies available at all.
Locking a 3d title to a single brand is incredible stupid; they should bundle 5-10 movies with *all* 3d tvs to increase interest (which again will increase the interest in *making* 3d movies), not limiting the few titles to different brands… I will certainly not buy any 3D tv in the near future if this is how they're gonna treat customers…
September 5th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Early adopters won't care, as long as they get their cheese. So let them be guinea pigs, while the rest of us will wait another year and buy when the market has settled. Like it or not 3D is here to stay, two to five years from now Cellphone GUI's will use the technology to fit more stuff on a screen, ten to twenty years from now 3D will be indistinguishable from reality.
September 14th, 2010 at 1:50 am
I have a Samsung 3D Blu Ray player and a Mitsubishi large screen 3D TV. I expected 3D Blu Ray media to be more available, but if this is the way things are going to be marketed, I will no longer go out of my way to get any 3D discs. If this continues it will stifle interest when it should be trying to get 3D product out to the masses so it will grow.
What a buzz kill this is.
October 5th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Whine, whine, whine…(my 50" Panny is coming tomorrow).
November 30th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
It's BS That these corporations are robbing the public ….people who have bought 3D TV's and equipment should be entitled these movies as well. The consumers spend a lot of money whether or not they have a samsung,sony or panasonic TV is irrelevant it should be made to the public as well…You wonder why the public takes it into their own hands to learn how to work around the system but it's because of these companies own greed we do the things we do!
December 24th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I have waited for this movie in 3D since I saw it in the theatres. I have a samsung 3D TV I realised only today that I have to get a Panasonic 3D TV to get this DVD. My tongue turned sour in my mouth when I heard this in Best Buy today. I am beginning to wonder what these companies are about. I would wait till Panasonics rights to this movie is ended. If it does not end then 20th Century Fox will not get my 20 – 30 dollars.