Avatar Blu 4/22; no 3D in 2010

“Avatar” is coming to Blu-ray Disc in the U.S. for Earth Day on the unusual release day of Thursday, April 22, a day after its release in several other countries and with no 3D or any bonus features whatsoever.

Sources at Fox confirmed a story in the Los Angeles Times that a second multi-disc version will be released in November with lots of extras but still no 3D. The April 22 edition will include nothing aside from the movie, not even a trailer.

Producer Jon Landau says this was a joint agreeement by the filmmakers and Fox to maximize literally every bit of space on the disc for optimum picture and audio quality. “Everything that is put on a disc takes up room — the menus, the extras, the trailers and studio promotions — and we got rid of all of that so we could give this movie the best picture and sound possible,” he told the Times.

“Avatar” far surpassed director James Cameron’s “Titanic” as the top-grossing film of all-time with $2.6 billion in global boxoffice.

– By Scott Hettrick

Following is a list of release dates in other countries:

FRANCE – April 21                     BELGIUM – April 21
NETHERLANDS – April 21                SPAIN – April 21
CHINA – April 22                    BRAZIL – April 22
RUSSIA – April 22                    NORTH AMERICA – April 22
GERMANY – April 23                JAPAN – April 23
SWITZERLAND – April 23                 MEXICO – April 23
UK – April 26                     DENMARK – April 27
NORWAY – April 28                    SWEDEN – April 28
NEW ZEALAND – April 28                AUSTRALIA – April 29
FINLAND – April 30                    ITALY – May 6