Like peanut butter and chocolate? Panasonic to promote ‘Avatar’

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Panasonic is hoping to ride the 3-D wave that’s being stirred up by the ‘Avatar’ movie trailer released last Thursday.

The Japanese consumer electronics company today said it would help promote the upcoming movie from director James Cameron. This is no surprise, given that the movie’s producer, Jon Landau, went on stage with Panasonic in January to promote the company’s efforts to produce a 3-D television for the home at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Unlike Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chief executive at DreamWorks Animation SKG who believes 3-D is best seen in theaters, Landau and Cameron say 3-D content can be produced for home viewing as well.

That’s certainly Panasonic’s hope. The company, which makes flat-panel TVs, has applied its considerable research muscles to developing 3-D TVs. And it’s hoping that the visual eye-candy promised in ‘Avatar’ will help it sell its 3-D capable TV sets the way chocolate can help make peanut butter sexier.

‘3-D is not something you watch,’ said Panasonic CEO Yoshi Yamada. ‘It’s a place you’re taken to.’

This fall, as part of the promotion, viewers will be taken to custom-built trucks touring the country and outfitted with 103-inch Panasonic TVs to view 3-D footage of the big blue aliens of ‘Avatar.’ Hopefully, that will generate more favorable impressions of the movie than what’s been whipped up so far from the online, 2-D trailer.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.