Don't you love movie directors doing DVD remakes these days?

[Deja Q]

Copy of an e-mail I got: :grr: (for remake, read "bastardization". Seems more apropos...)

>
>
> Note: forwarded message attached.
>
> ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822
> From:
> To:
> Subject: "the original versions don't exist."
> Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 14:30:52 -0500
>
> This crap really boils my blood!
>
> DVDs give directors another shot
> Tue Feb 24, 6:40 AM ET Add Entertainment -
> USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!
>
>
> By Mike Snider, USA TODAY
>
> These days, a filmmaker's job isn't always finished
> when the movie plays in
> theaters.
>
>
> • Stallone gets back in the ring
> • Martin Lawrence accused of hitting woman
> • Clear Channel fires raunchy Fla. DJ
> • Talk show host suspended from Univision
> • Kansans on both sides of aisle over gay marriage
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Take director Robert Rodriguez (news), for example.
> Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over,
> out on DVD today, has even better special effects
> and 3-D visuals than the
> version in theaters last summer because Rodriguez
> continued fine-tuning the
> film.
>
>
> Although the release is not called a collector's
> edition and not a
> director's cut, the two-disc DVD, he says, "is the
> last statement because
> (the audience) will only see it on DVD now."
>
>
> Rodriguez, who also continued tweaking Once Upon a
> Time in Mexico and Spy
> Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams after their
> theatrical release, may take
> the DVD vision thing to extremes. Other filmmakers
> are developing their own
> "director's cuts" twists.
>
>
> With the four-disc Star Wars Trilogy collection due
> Sept. 21, director
> George Lucas (news) is attempting to erase his
> original movies from popular
> consciousness. The DVD will have only the "special
> editions," with added
> scenes and spiffed-up effects, that played in
> theaters in 1997. "In George's
> mind," says Lucasfilm's Jim Ward, "the original
> versions don't exist."
>
>
> Other director's cuts:
>
>
> • Peter Jackson (news)'s definitive DVD version of
> the Lord of the Rings
> trilogy will top 11 hours - more than two hours
> longer than the theatrical
> version. New Line releases the extended Return of
> the King DVD in November.
>
>
> • Francis Ford Coppola (news)'s One From the Heart,
> a movie he yanked out of
> theaters in 1982 after just a week and a half
> because of poor reviews, was
> resurrected on DVD last month. Coppola's American
> Zoetrope DVD lab restored
> the film. "The DVD represents a more direct access
> to the audience," he
> says. "(Now) I have the satisfaction of knowing a
> good version is out there
> to see."
>
>
> • Steven Spielberg (news)'s 20th anniversary version
> of E.T. the
> Extraterrestrial, out in October 2002, had a more
> realistic E.T., and
> Spielberg changed some law enforcement officials'
> guns into flashlights and
> walkie-talkies. The DVD also included the original
> 1982 version
>
>
> Adding footage and bonus materials - let alone an
> entire makeover for a
> movie - did not make widespread sense when home
> video meant VHS rentals. But
> last year, DVDs outsold movie tickets by more than
> $2 billion ($11.6 billion
> vs. $9.2 billion), and the gap could nearly double
> this year, with DVD sales
> expected to rise to more than $14 billion. And, the
> additional capacity on a
> DVD allows for more material.
>
>
> Not all DVD special editions amount to a director's
> cut, however. Last year,
> when Fox released all four Alien films in a box set,
> the studio enlisted
> Ridley Scott (news) and James Cameron (news) to
> create director's cuts of
> their films. But for the third and fourth films, the
> studio created extended
> versions without the filmmakers' assistance.
>
>
> As for a special extended Dances With Wolves that
> MGM released last year,
> director Kevin Costner (news) says that "adding on
> really flies in the face
> of how I am. I am not looking to find a secondary
> market when I'm making a
> movie."
>
>
> Oscar winner Ron Howard (news) considers the
> theatrical version of The
> Missing (out today on a two-disc special edition)
> his final vision. But, he
> says, DVD releases "have become important. It is a
> lasting representation of
> the movie. And you get an opportunity to have a hand
> in the extras."
>
>
> Research shows that more than half of DVD buyers
> have not seen the movie.
> That may bode well for The Missing, which was a
> disappointment at the box
> office, taking in only $28 million. Says Howard:
> "With DVD, more so than
> ever, films find their audience."
>

[zbdent]

1. When's the Extended DVD version of the Director's cut of

Bambi vs. Godzilla, complete with extended scenes, alternate endings, and hilarious bloopers and outtakes coming out?

[Deja Q]

2. It'll be released the same day I get a boyfriend or better job.

Sorry to answer a question with a question, but we both know what the answer is.

[PVnRT]

3. Hey, it's their movies, not ours

Some of the "remakes" are idiotic, but I kind of like getting extended versions to see their entire vision.

[wickerwoman]

4. If you don't like them, don't buy them.

Peter Jackson offered two versions- the theatrical and extended. If you want to save money and don't care about the extra scenes don't buy the extended version. I would happily purchase and ravenously consume a 16 hour long version of Return of the King. Does this mean I'm a sucker buying a bastardized version of a film which the director admits he had to rush to cut for a theatrical release? OK, I'm obsessed, but I think that's between me and my directors.

It's a minor inconvenience when directors don't give you a choice (like Lucas is proposing for Star Wars) but what the hell. It gives you an excuse to keep your video player. Or if it really bothers you, get the tape transferred to DVD.