As for those special features, the Digital release of Avatar: The Way of Water will include...

• Inside Pandora’s Box (A series of featurettes on the challenges facing the cast and crew as the filmmakers devise new technologies to push the limits of cinema)
  • 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 Saldana, 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 Weta 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.

• More from Pandora’s Box (Additional featurettes that highlight special teams within the production)
  • 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.

• Marketing Materials & Music Video (Marketing materials used to build audience awareness of the film)
• • Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength) Music Video – Multi-Grammy-winning, music superstar, The Weekend, performs his emotionally packed end title song in the official music video.
  • 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.

So there you go. We’re staying on top of the forthcoming physical release and we’ll post news on that as soon as it’s available.

Also today, Lionsgate has set Transfusion for Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital release on 4/18.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has just set Missing for Blu-ray release on 3/28. The Digital version is now available.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has set Neil Jordan’s Marlowe for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 4/18. Again, the Digital version is now available. This title has the distinction of being star Liam Neeson’s 100th feature film.

Level 33 Entertainment has set the sci-fi thriller Future FX for Digital release on 4/18.

And for all the moms and grandmas in the house, Paramount has just made the Digital version of Kyle Marvin’s 80 for Brady available today. Physical Blu-ray and DVD versions will follow on 5/2, in time for Mother’s Day.

Now then, we have confirmed that Warner’s Rocky: The Knockout Collection 4K set has some significant quality control issues. We first began hearing of this from readers who’d purchased the set last week and we shared them here on The Bits and also on our social media. We also made Warner Bros. Home Entertainment aware of the problems and the studio began an official investigation. Then we were finally able to confirm the problems with our own review product last night. The specific errors are as follows:

1. The “original” audio mix on Rocky is actually a downmix of the 5.1, not the original theatrical mono audio as it should be.
2. Rocky II has all of its audio tracks at the wrong pitch (about 4% too low).
3. Rocky III has all of the foreign audio tracks at the wrong pitch as well.
4. One shot in the theatrical cut of Rocky IV apparently opens up to 1.78:1 instead of the correct 1.85:1 featured throughout the rest of the film (the shot appears at about 10:17 into the film).
5. The version of the Rocky vs. Drago: Keep Punching documentary on the bonus disc is significantly shorter than the version available for free viewing here on YouTube.

That last one may not actually be an error, but fans have certainly noticed it. Now then, we haven’t yet heard back from WB on all this, but we expect to soon. So as soon as we do, rest assured we’ll let you all know here and on our social media.

Twitter is where I typically post that kind of breaking news first, so I recommend that you follow me (@BillHuntBits) and also The Bits (@thedigitalbits) to be among the first to know. Following us on Twitter also helps us here at the site in a variety of ways (helping us to grow the site, to reach new audiences, etc), so we certainly appreciate it.

Finally today, it may surprise some of you to learn that the Italian distributor Eagle Pictures has released Sian Heder’s Coda (2021) on physical 4K Ultra HD in that country. This title is, of course, an Apple Original Film that’s exclusive to Apple TV+ streaming here in the States. You can order the disc from Amazon Italy here and directly from Eagle Pictures here. Thanks to Bits reader Ronald B for the heads-up!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned...

(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)