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Francis Ford Coppola's new edit of The Godfather Part III coming this December

Blader

Blader

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,693
I was unable to fit the new name of the film -- "Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone" -- into the thread title lol

www.polygon.com

A new ‘good’ cut of The Godfather 3 to hit theaters in December

Old movies are new movies during a pandemic
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com

Paramount announced on Thursday that a new edit and restoration of Coppola's final Godfather film, rechristened Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, will hit theaters this December, with a home video release to follow. The new version of the film "achieves director-screenwriter Coppola and screenwriter [Mario] Puzo's original vision for the finale, which has been meticulously restored for the finest presentation of the Corleone saga's last chapter," Paramount said in a news release. If everyone's roles are intact, the movie stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, and a young Sofia Coppola.

"Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is an acknowledgement of Mario's and my preferred title and our original intentions for what became The Godfather: Part III," Coppola said in a statement. "For this version of the finale, I created a new beginning and ending, and rearranged some scenes, shots, and music cues. With these changes and the restored footage and sound, to me, it is a more appropriate conclusion to The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II and I'm thankful to Jim Gianopulos and Paramount for allowing me to revisit it."
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The process of the re-edit sounds fascinating: In order to bring a pristine version to theaters, American Zoetrope and Paramount Pictures' restoration team searched through 300 cartons of negatives in the studio archive to find over 50 original takes that could replace lower-resolution opticals in the original negative. The process of repairing scratches and stains took more than six months, while enhancements were also made to the original 5.1-channel surround sound mix. The coronavirus pandemic forced the team to shift to the San Francisco Bay Area, where the rest of the project was completed through remote work.

"Mr. Coppola oversaw every aspect of the restoration while working on the new edit, ensuring that the film not only looks and sounds pristine, but also meets his personal standards and directorial vision," said Andrea Kalas, the senior vice president of Paramount Archives, in a statement.
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Not quite sure how rearranging or rescoring some scenes will fix the film's deeper problems, but can't hurt to try! I'm morbidly curious to give this a shot.
 
Era Uma Vez

Era Uma Vez

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Feb 5, 2020
3,283
His new cut of Apocalypse Now is better than the original and the Redux, so I'm sure he'll fix some problems.
 
Fancy Clown

Fancy Clown

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Oct 25, 2017
5,416
Interesting! Maybe this will be my motivation to finally watch Part III so I can check this out.
 
excelsiorlef

excelsiorlef

Bad Praxis
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Oct 25, 2017
73,439
I hope we get more Sofia, she absolutely steals the movie and it's a shame she's underplayed
 
BeeDog

BeeDog

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Oct 26, 2017
4,651
Very curious about this. Still need to see the Final Cut of Apocalypse Now, but I hope he still has the chops and doesn't go the George Lucas route.
 
Faddy

Faddy

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Oct 25, 2017
9,203
If anything the renaming is about taking the perceived stink of Part 3 away from Parts 1 and 2.

It is now just a Coda and not part of the essential story.
 
wenis

wenis

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Oct 25, 2017
16,164
goddammit snyder, see what happens when you start publicly polishing turds! now everyone wants to do it. goddammit zach.
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

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Oct 25, 2017
21,884
I watched the full trilogy for the first time a few years ago and couldn't believe what I was watching during three. It seemed like a parody. God awful.
 
jett

jett

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,699
There's every chance this could be even worse.

But hopefully not. The first third movie is awfully boring so it's definitely good news that Coppola is saying that specifically addressed it.

excelsiorlef said:
I hope we get more Sofia, she absolutely steals the movie and it's a shame she's underplayed
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OP
OP
Blader

Blader

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,693
CountAntonius said:
I watched the full trilogy for the first time a few years ago and couldn't believe what I was watching during three. It seemed like a parody. God awful.
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Watching Pacino in the first two, and then watching him spaz out in the kitchen in part III during his stroke (or whatever was happening, I think it was a stroke?), is really his career in a nutsell
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,884
Blader said:
Watching Pacino in the first two, and then watching him spaz out in the kitchen in part III during his stroke (or whatever was happening, I think it was a stroke?), is really his career in a nutsell
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Just everything. Him, Andy Garcia's absolutely awful transformation into a lowrate Godfather, Sophia Coppola's.. everything. It was all so bizarre.
 
Doctor_Thomas

Doctor_Thomas

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,773
1. The Godather Part III is nowhere near as good as the other two films.
2. It's also nowhere near as bad as people say it is.
3. I'm interested in this new edit.
 
DarkSora

DarkSora

▲ Legend ▲
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Oct 28, 2017
6,207
Ha, I introduced my mom to the "trilogy" and while she thinks all the movies are perfect, she adores 3 the most.

She's gonna love this.
 
Son of Liberty

Son of Liberty

Production
Verified
Nov 5, 2017
1,261
California
Very interested in this new edit, I thought Apocalypse Now: Final Cut was really well done.
I've seen the first two Godfather films multiple times but I believe I only saw Part III once.
 
aboatofcourage

aboatofcourage

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
246
DFW, Texas
So are we doing some CG wonderment replacing George Hamilton with the true MVP of the Godfather movies, Robert Duvall? Give me the Tom Hagan cut, Coppola!!
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

Prophet of Truth
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Oct 29, 2017
6,593
Loved the first two, never watched 3 because I heard it was so lame. I'll keep an eye on this but these post-mortem director's cuts rarely improve the film.
 
Window

Window

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Oct 27, 2017
8,291
Liquidsnake said:
Its interesting in that its the only one of the three that seems outdated if that makes sense.
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I think that's because the previous movies were set in a period 20+ years before they were shot, hence the image on screen is of a memory of the time in pop culture. In 3 the events are set 10 years before filming hence the contemporary stylings now seem dated as they were not recreating a distant past. I notice this is a lot of past period films vs films actually shot in contemporary period.
 
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