Mondo Kane

Noticed that Stone's Alexander will premier tonight on HBO. Come to find out it's the Director's Cut.

So this causes the question. Since damn near every movie that comes out on DVD these days has an unrated version (aka Director's Cut) is there a chance that these will be the definitive versions soon shown on TV? Or is this just a one-time-only deal that Stone was able to get away with?

Cameron

been going on for years.... check out the documentary Z Channel

Mondo Kane

Care to name some examples?

True Romance is the only one that I can think of. Cinemax (Or it could've been HBO) premiered it as The Director's Cut and it was the version that I didn't see in theaters.

I think only the R-rated version has hit the airwaves in recent years.

Jackskeleton

Godfather I & II were the best ones that aired on tv in a Directors cut form being called The Godfather Saga. Not even the DVD has those added scenes put back.

Giles

a few that pop into mind:

- The Birdcage (I'd love to own this on DVD)

- the first two Harry Potter films. There is even a (deleted) scene that isn't on the DVD SE, for the first film, that is exclusive to the network edition.

- Not technically a longer cut, but there was a fascinating docu on the deleted scenes from 'Shawshank Redemption' that I believe hasn't been released on DVD.

- first network cuts of 'Close Encounters' culled all the scenes from the SE and original theatrical cut resulting in a faux expanded edition.

Patman

Supeman had a bunch of stuff added for its ABC broadcast in the 1980's, IIRC.

Joe Molotov

Well, I don't know about actual Director's Cuts, but alot of time the TV version is different than the theatrical version. Dune and Brazil are two major examples, but there's plenty of movies that add and remove a scene or two here and there for TV.

scott shelton

I loooooooove the long TV version of WATERWORLD.

Mondo Kane

Oh, I know that there's plenty of titles from the past that have had their additonal footage inserted on telecasts (Like Star Trek II,Goonies,Outsiders,Godfathers and Scarface) whether they were Director's Cuts or not.

But I was mostly implying to the newly released movies/DVDs that are billed as "Unrated Director's Cuts". You know, the Charlie's Angels 2,King Arthur,Dawn of the Dead, hell, even Dodgeball.
Since Alexander is one of those alternate versions that did get aired, I was wondering if there would be more to come.

fryinpan1

more extended/revised movies for television
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=435224

bhk

Correct. It wasn't just a minute or two either. It ended up being more than half an hour.

Matthew Chmiel

During broadcast versions of movies, deleted scenes are usually added in -- not at the director's discretion -- but because the movie has to meet a certain running time.

A movie in a two-hour time slot has to run around 88-92 minutes.
A movie in a two-and-a-half hour time slot has to run around 110-112 minutes.
A movie in a three hour time slot has to run around 132-135 minutes.

And so on and so on. Sometimes, deleted footage is also inserted to fill in the gaps put in by scenes that were too "risque" for television. 95% of the time, they're never "director's cuts."

And as for as I'm aware, no "Unrated" cut of a recent film on DVD has never made it to air. HBO airs the PG-13 version of Dodgeball and the R version of American Wedding. Starz! airs the PG-13 version of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and King Arthur. And so on and so on. In Alexander's case, the "director's cut" of that film is a real director's cut. Not an "unrated" marketing ploy.

However, I do know that Starz! On Demand only had the "unrated" version of the Dawn of the Dead remake (but the Espanol version was of the "rated" version).