The new version of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part III, coming together for the film’s 20th anniversary, will hit digital and Blu-Ray this December.
At the beginning of the month, word came out that Francis Ford Coppola was coming out of retirement to oversee the remaster, and complete re-edit of his much maligned Godfather 3. Coming with a new title, we now have a release date for Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
The film, with an all new beginning and ending, will be available digitally and on Blu-Ray December 8, 2020; just in time for the 30th anniversary.
“‘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,’” said Coppola. “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.”
Coppola and his production company American Zoetrope worked from a 4K scan of the original negative to undertake a painstaking, frame-by-frame restoration of both the new Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and the original The Godfather: Part III. In order to create the best presentation possible, Zoetrope and Paramount’s restoration team began by searching for over 50 original takes to replace lower resolution opticals in the original negative. This process took more than six months and involved sifting through 300 cartons of negative. American Zoetrope worked diligently to repair scratches, stains, and other anomalies that could not be addressed previously due to technology constraints, while enhancements were made to the original 5.1 audio mix.
Will you be picking this up in December?
