The Big Picture
- The long-awaited special edition of The Abyss will be released digitally on December 12 and physically on March 12, 2024, just in time for the holiday season.
- The film highlights James Cameron’s love for oceans and water, a theme seen in his other successful works like Titanic and Avatar.
- The Abyss is an underwater adventure that features groundbreaking special effects and won the 1990 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The long-awaited special edition version of The Abyss will finally arrive just in time for the holiday season, as has just been announced by James Cameron and Lightstorm Entertainment. The Collector’s Edition, which will feature the 145-minute theatrical cut as well as the extended special edition, will be available digitally on December 12, while the physical copy will arrive on March 12, 2024. One of Cameron’s less successful features — if we’re talking finances — the DNA of The Abyss can be found running through most of his films, and was the first work to highlight his love and obsession with oceans and water, which would then pass on through his subsequent work on Titanic, Avatar, and his documentaries on the depths of the ocean.
The timing lines up with comments made by Cameron in September at the Los Angeles genre festival, Beyond Fest. He participated in a Q&A session discussing The Abyss following a rare screening of the film’s extended Special Edition, which runs for two hours and 51 minutes. Hinting that work on the 4K and Blu-ray transfer of the film was almost complete, the director had said:
“All of the mastering is done and I think it drops pretty soon — a couple of months or something like that. There’s a lot of added material that they’re sticking in there, and it will be available on streaming simultaneously. But I didn’t just want to look at the old HD transfer. I wanted to do it right.”
What Is ‘The Abyss’ About?
Taking place in the depths of the ocean, the film revolves around a group of underwater oil drillers enlisted by the U.S. Navy for a rescue mission. The storyline unfolds as the team stumbles upon a hidden and highly advanced alien species lurking beneath the ocean’s depths. Noteworthy for its groundbreaking special effects, the movie earned the 1990 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. These cutting-edge CGI tools were subsequently employed with equal impact in the director’s follow-up work, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
When Will ‘The Abyss’ Be Released in 4K?
The Abyss Collector’s Edition will be released digitally in 4K UHD, HD and SD on December 12, 2023, with pre-orders available from November 20. The physical version will follow on March 12, 2024, in a 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Code).
The Abyss
- Release Date
- August 9, 1989
- Director
- James Cameron
- Cast
- Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff, John Bedford Lloyd
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 139
- Main Genre
- Adventure