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Space
Space
Science
Jeff Spry

Watch an exclusive clip from the gorgeous new 4K release of 'The Abyss' (video)

A woman reaches out to touch a floating column of water shaped like a human face.

Get ready to dive back in to the abyss!

Avid fans of superstar director James Cameron's underwater sci-fi epic, "The Abyss," have been holding their collective breaths for ages waiting for a serious high-definition remaster of his oft-overlooked masterpiece and now 20th Century Studios is taking off the wrapper for this stunning home video release.

Many years prior to his better-known watery projects, "Titanic" and "Avatar," the iconic filmmaker tackled this engaging narrative revolving around a submersible oil rig crew and a clandestine group of iridescent aquatic aliens. Now "The Abyss Ultimate Collector's Edition" has finally arrived in a special 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack on March 12, 2024 and we can emphatically guarantee that it's been worth the wait.

Related: Best sci-fi movies of all time

Cameron himself personally monitored this time-consuming frame-by-frame restoration and UHD transfer of "The Abyss" and the results are nothing less than spectacular. 

Mikael Salomon's ("Far and Away," "Backdraft") brilliant Academy Award-nominated underwater cinematography was a revelation at the time and was shot using two specially-built sets within abandoned containment tanks at Duke Power's unfinished Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant just outside Gaffney, South Carolina. 

Box art for "The Abyss Ultimate Collector's Edition." (Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Here's the official "Ultimate Collector's Edition" release description:

"In this underwater sci-fi adventure written and directed by James Cameron, a nuclear sub mysteriously sinks and a private oil rig crew, led by foreman Bud Brigman (Ed Harris), is recruited to join a team of Navy SEALs on a search and rescue effort. The group soon finds themselves on a spectacular life-and-death odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface, where they find a mysterious force that could either change the world — or destroy it. 'The Abyss' stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. Fans will be able to experience Cameron's thrilling underwater sci-fi adventure for the first time in stunning, remastered 4K."

Besides its talented A-list cast that endured a brutal filming regimen, "The Abyss" was also a pioneering force in photorealistic digital special effects with its depiction of fluid morphing technology and never-seen CGI shots like the extraterrestrial's weird shimmery water tentacle.

This impressive 4K UHD home entertainment edition of "The Abyss" is presented in Dolby Vision HDR and with an immersive Atmos audio mix. 

Inside it's drenched with fascinating bonus material, multiple deleted scenes and hours of illuminating featurettes including "Deep Dive: A Conversation with James Cameron," an exclusive new chat with James Cameron where he revisits the genesis of the project and its notoriously harsh production schedule.

"The Abyss Ultimate Collector's Edition" splashes down on March 12, 2024.

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