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Hatchet (2006)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (84 min.)
  • Unrated Director’s Cut (84 min.)

The 2006 80’s slasher throwback Hatchet was released in an unrated director’s cut on DVD and Blu-ray. The unrated director’s cut is a little more than half a minute longer than the theatrical cut and includes gorier scenes from the horror film. Director Adam Green confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

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Lords of Dogtown (2005)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (107 min.)
  • Unrated Extended Cut (110 min.)

The 2005 teen skater drama Lords of Dogtown was released on DVD and Blu-ray in an unrated extended cut. The theatrical has never been released on either format. Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Lords of Dogtown, provided an intro on the DVD and Blu-ray where she talks about the unrated extended cut and how the movie was trimmed for the MPAA to avoid the R-rating:

“I’m Catherine Hardwicke, I’m the director. This is Dogtown Unleashed, it’s kinda like the unrated version, all the kind of spicy, racier, more colorful language and more illegal substances that we couldn’t show you in the PG-13 version…”

Source: Introduction to Dogtown by Director Catherine Hardwicke on the unrated extended cut Blu-ray from Eureka! from the UK

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated Extended Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

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Manhunter (1986)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (120 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (124 min.)

Half a decade before Anthony Hopkins captivated audiences with his performance as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, the brilliant but psychotic psychiatrist had his debut in Michael Mann’s Manhunter played by Brian Cox. Mann released a director’s cut of Manhunter in 2000 on DVD. Both the theatrical and director’s cuts are on the Shout! Factory Blu-ray release although the director’s cut is only in standard def. The UK Blu-ray release from Optimum has the director’s cut in high def.

Very late in the commentary track Mann talks about his preferred cut of the film:

“This cut was actually put together soon after the picture was released in 1986… but the cut was made, originally, I re-cut it for The Movie Channel. So that’s probably 1987, within a year of the release of the picture. And I always preferred this version to the one that had been released theatrically.”

Source: Michael Mann’s commentary track from Manhunter Director’s Cut from Shout! Factory

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

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Salt (2010)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (100 min.)
  • Extended Cut (101 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (104 min.)

The Philip Noyce’s spy movie Salt starring Angelina Jolie was released on DVD and Blu-ray that, interesting enough, included three cuts of the film: Theatrical, extended and director’s cuts. Noyce was involved with all three cuts. Noyce confirmed with the Los Angeles Times his preferred cut:

“The “extended versions,” of course, reference the film’s DVD/Blu-ray, to be released Dec. 21. Like most of the releases in today’s home entertainment market, there are different versions of the film offered, including three separate endings. “My favorite version is the director’s cut extended version, which to me provides the most appropriate ending to the story, because it is an ending yet just a beginning -– and it’s an ending that turns the whole story on its head,” says Noyce.”

Source: ‘Salt’ DVD release stirs Phillip Noyce’s spy senses, LA Times

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Fanny and Alexander still

Fanny and Alexander (1982)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (188 min.)
  • Television Version (322 min.)

The Swedish classic Fanny and Alexander (or Fanny och Alexander) was originally made as a four-part television film, but before it was shown as such it was shortened and released theatrically in Sweden. The Criterion Collection released Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander for the first time in the US in the television version on DVD in 2004 where it included both versions. In the excellent booklet that accompanies the Criterion Collection box set writer Stig Björkman addresses the two versions:

“It is this world of dreams and nightmares, visions and theatrical pranks, that Bergman sought to evoke in Fanny and Alexander and that he fully achieved in the sprawling, 320-minute Swedish television version. Only reluctantly did he cut his epic film down to 188 minutes for the theatrical release, saying farewell to much of the fantasy. “This was extremely troublesome,” Bergman has said, “as I had to cut into the nerves and lifeblood of the film.”

Source: Fanny and Alexander: In the World of Childhood by Stig Björkman, from the Criterion Collection booklet

The director’s preferred edition: Television Version

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

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Spider-Man 2 (2004)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (127 min.)
  • Extended Cut / Spider-Man 2.1 (136 min.)

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 still ranks among the best superhero movies around. In 2007 an extended cut of Spider-Man 2 was released on DVD that was simply called Spider-Man 2.1. The DVD release only includes the extended cut while the Blu-ray includes both the theatrical and extended cuts. Collider interviewed Raimi where he confirms his preferred cut:

Collider: Recently Spider-Man 2.1 came out with 8 additional minutes. Were you involved in that?

Sam Raimi: Yes, that I supervised. And Sony came to me and said, we want to make a 2.1 that gives fans more of the movie. I said but well, the problem is, I want to be good to you Sony, but the problem is you gave me my director’s cut with the main picture, and I don’t want to punish you now, but that, I really liked, that was the movie I wanted to make and you let me make it and I’m thankful for it. They said well, don’t you have things we could still put in that the fans may want to see? I said okay, we won’t call it the director’s cut, but there’s some additional insight into character, there’s a few lines, there’s a few little action bits that were, maybe were unnecessary to make the point that they said the fans would want to see, so that’s what 2.1 is.

Source: Sam Raimi Interviewed – SPIDER-MAN 3, Collider

The director’s preferred edition: Theatrical Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Fighting still

Fighting (2009)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (105 min.)
  • Unrated (108 min.)

A couple of years before Channing Tatum hit the big league he was mostly known for Step Up and its sequel Step Up 2: The Streets and Fighting that revolved about a young and upcoming street fighter. Fighting was released on DVD and Blu-ray where it included both the theatrical cut and a a slightly longer unrated cut. Director Dito Montiel confirmed with This or That Edition which edition he prefers:

The director’s preferred edition: Unrated

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: Blu-ray

Fast & Furious 6

Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (130 min.)
  • Extended Cut (131 min.)

The sixth entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Fast & Furious 6 (or simply Furious 6) was released on Blu-ray where it included both the theatrical and extended cuts of the film. Fast & Furious 6’s director Justin Lin confirms on the commentary track, one third into the film, on the Blu-ray which edition he prefers:

“This is the director’s cut, so there’s a little extra stuff that Thure had, that I really loved. It pained me, it took me till the very and, I ended up taking it out just for pacing sake, but in this cut, I’m very happy to see it back in. When they ask about doing another cut, it’s always called extended cut because I always feel like the theatrical cut is my cut, it’s the director’s cut, but this is one of the rare times where I do feel like this is the director’s cut, as opposed to extended, just to have more stuff, and it’s not an issue with the studio or anything like that. It was just that we really had so much going on that the MPAA was having problems.  They were really great to work with, and we were ultimately able to get our PG-13. The theatrical cut is my cut, but, to be honest, with some of the sound tweaks and some of the little things that I wanted for pacing, I really do think that the director’s cut is more enjoyable version.”

Source: Justin Lin on the commentary track of Fast & Furious 6 on Blu-ray

The director’s preferred edition: Extended Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

THX 1138 still

THX 1138 (1971)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (86 min.)
  • The George Lucas Director’s Cut (88 min.)

George Lucas’ feature film directorial debut THX 1138 was released in 2004 in a director’s cut billed “The George Lucas Director’s Cut” on DVD. The theatrical cut of the sci-fi cult classic hasn’t been released on DVD nor Blu-ray, and most likely won’t be. In his director’s cut, Lucas made significant changes to the film: new edit, overlapping CGI and newly shot footage.

Bill Desowitz of VFXWorld interviewed ILMs DVD VFX producer Paul Hill and CG supervisor Henry Preston where they talked about the director’s cut and how Lucas was involved in all aspects of the cut:

Bill Desowitz: Lets first talk about the new footage and what it consists of.

Paul Hill: Certainly George went back in and re-edited using some outtakes and other stuff. Because of the Northridge quake, a lot of the original footage was water damaged. Thats why we knew when we went in that we were going to have to do some extensive restoration work. So before I came onto the project, George went through with the editor, picked a bunch of stuff and re-edited it slightly, just to make it more what he wanted.

Later in the interview:

Bill Desowitz: And George must’ve been very helpful in terms of remembering things, such as the main titles were the wrong color.

Paul Hill: Yeah, there are things that he remembers when he shot ithe was never happy with that, he was never happy with this. So we fixed it.

Source: Back to the Future with ‘THX 1138’, AWN.com/VFXWorld

The director’s preferred edition: The George Lucas Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray

Avatar still

Avatar (2009)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (161 min.)
  • Special Edition (171 min.)
  • Collector’s Extended Edition (178 min.)

The adventure epic Avatar reassured everyone that writer-director James Cameron is the “King of the World”. Well, at least as the King of the box office as Avatar made over $2.7 Billion worldwide. Since its release the record-shattering blockbuster has been released in two cuts, Special Edition and Collector’s Extended Edition which were included in the Avatar Extended Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray. The Special Edition was originally debuted when Avatar was re-released in theaters in 2010, almost a year after its initial theatrical release. Speaking to MTV writer-director James Cameron talks about the longer cuts of the film:

“The ‘director’s cut’ is what we release. What we do is we do a special edition, where you could select a longer version of the film that has some scenes reinstated. But it’s really more of a fan version than a director’s version.”

Source: James Cameron Talks ‘AVATAR’ Sequel, Deleted Sex Scenes, MTV.com

The director’s preferred edition: Theatrical Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

List of different editions with courtesy of DVDCompare.net: DVD | Blu-ray