/Film recently released the details of the Avatar DVD and Blu-ray releases. There are, as expected, going to be multiple home video releases of the film, but thankfully Fox is being up-front about it. Although, once the first release comes out, that would have been blatantly apparent anyway.

The first release comes as early as April 22 (a Thursday, so as to be released on Earth Day) and will be a bare bones edition. There will not even be animated menus or studio logos. Apparently the studio is optimizing the disc for high-fidelity playback and is thus devoting the full disc space to the film proper. There will also be a limited edition version of this release, "containing 4 lenticular art cards and a ‘Survival Guide’ book," exclusive to the U.K. and only available on Blu-ray. From the sound of it, despite lacking extras, this release is going to have an exceedingly clear picture, as its mastering was stretched to six weeks from the typical two.

November sees the next release, which will be a multi-disc special edition, available, it seems, only on Blu-ray. Some time thereafter, the 3D version of the film will be released (probably not until 2011). Of course, you'll also need a 3D-capable TV and Blu-ray player in order to play that one. There are no further details on these editions, but /Film states that James Cameron and producer Jon Landau will be holding a press even on March 23 to provide more details.

Double- (and triple-) dipping usually angers me, as I'm sure it does most consumers, but I can see legitimate reasons for doing so, here. The initial release is something the studio can provide fans early while they work on the special edition stuff that, apparently, is going to take much longer to put out (though it is possible they're delaying it to pressure more fans into settling for the bare bones disc in the meantime). Also, the sound and picture quality of the first release, if Fox is telling the truth, should be worth every penny. Furthermore, the studio is coming out and telling us, "There will be more versions. Just be patient," so we're not being fooled into thinking the first release will be the last. There are, of course, many consumers who don't read up on things like this and thus will be unaware of future releases, but they'll also be the ones less likely to buy a follow-up edition. The hardcore fans, who are apt to buy just about anything, will probably have read all about the different releases and thus can make an educated decision to hold out for future releases.