KILL BILL: The multiple versions thread (6 from Miramax; Japanese, SEs, etc.) (1 Viewer)

[Haden]

I don't expect an official announcement of any future releases until after 8/10 when the barebones Kill Bill 2 is released. They don't want to change peoples' minds about getting it. It's just basic marketing strategy. Maybe Miramax will announce the special combined cut in September, hopefully for release in December

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Sounds like I may have been misinformed, though I could have sworn I'd heard these facts repeated by several sources. Since I can't find any of those sources, I've gotta concede this one. I was sure that QT split the movies in half in post-production, but if this was a production decision... I rest my case.

 

[Jon B NY]

Anyone out there fluent in French? Seems s if the Franch are getting a 4 disc box set...but I can't read what it's all about for anything!

http://www.dvdalliance.net/article.php?sid=7662

Go at it!

 

[Citizen87645]

Gotta love the Google Translator:

PeTe RoCk comes from poster on the forum of Mad Movies the visual ones of the possible future box Kill Bill 1 and 2 in DVD Zone 2 which will leave in November at Video TF1!!! This edition would be made up of 4 DVD: 1 DVD for each film and 1 DVD of no-claims bonus by film. In goodies, there would be: * A digipack with the 2 BO * a book of 100 pages on film and Quentin Tarantino * an envelope with photographs of film the price would be of 75 euros. In the continuation you will be able to find the images (which while clicking will increase) and we still say large a thank you to PeTe RoCk. Do not hesitate to compare it compared to that which will leave to Asia about which we had spoken to you in this article.

 

[PaulP]

[3 years of high-school French here... hehe, not fluent at all.] Hmm, looks like 4 DVDs (2 for movies, 2 for extras), 2 soundtracks, 100-page book, and some photos.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

KILLer (pun intended) BOX!!!
Yeah, THAT would be worth waiting for!

 

[Jon B NY]

Japan is ALSO getting a Kill Bill vol. 2 box like they did with Vol. 1. Special goodies this time around are a different bear brick, a different t-shirt, some limited edition cards (they look like trading cards). Check it out:

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/pro...ducts_id=21431

Every region gets mad love except us. Sigh. Where can I get a good cheap multi region player? lol

 

[Citizen87645]

Don't know if you were serious but check this out:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...85#post2294385

 

[BarryS]

Tarantino was on The Tonight Show a few nights ago and after Jay Leno inquired, he stated that his "director's cut played in the theater". That suggests that there will be no longer version of the film released (unless he pulls a Francis Coppola twenty years down the road). It seems safe to assume that splitting Kill Bill into two films allowed Tarantino to indulge and include everything that he wanted to be in the film(s).

However, Peter Jackson said the same thing about The Lord of the Rings, but he still put together extended versions for the fans. Whether Tarantino will do the same thing remains to be seen, but my guess is that it won't happen.

 

[Amy Mormino]

This is somewhat off topic, but I thought someone here might know. A couple of years ago I heard that Tarantino was going to write a novel based on the "Kill Bill" story. My local library even has this speculative book as a future release, but I haven't heard anything about it in ages. Did he just change his mind about it?

As for the movie division debate, I find that the two equally great halves of "Kill Bill" are so different in style that the decision to make them two movies was the right one. If there were only a few more extras on the DVDs, I'd be satisfied with the one volume releases.

 

[RyanAn]

As for the pricing of $16.99, I bought Vol. 1 at Target for $15.99...

QT was on Leno a few nights ago and said something like:

"I work a little different than most directors. The cuts you see in theatres ARE the director's cuts."

I hear that if there is a combo of vol. 1 and vol. 2 that some parts will be edited out, and I am against that. I want the whole shabang, a minute gone would make me mad.

Ryan

 

[Rob Pritchard]

>>posted by Elijah Sullivan: Tarantino's original cut of Kill Bill was a single, 2.5-hour film. The Miramax chiefs talked QT into splitting his flick in half -- but that left two very short (75-min) films, so each of them was watered down with deleted scenes to reach a more desireable running length.
(Apparently, tho, the second film ate up most of the 150-minute running time of Bill: Uncut, so the first film was actually beefed up from a running time closer to a single hour.)


Elijah, where did this claim about a 2.5 hr director's cut come from? I've never read anything by Tarantino to confirm such a story. I'd be interested to know where you heard this.

The truth, as I understand it, is that QT wrote a script that was well in excess of 200 pages. Now, given the rule of thumb that one page equals one minute of screen time it became immediately apparent to all involved that there was no way this script could be one movie. Accordingly, jokes about making KB two movies were common on the set. Until Harvey Weinstein suggested, whilst Tarantino was still shooting, that QT cut the movie into two. After some thought he figured out how to construct a cliffhanger ending for Vol 1 and away they went.

>>posted by Elijah: Problem is, these deleted scenes were cut for a reason, so clearly QT's director's cut (if there is any such thing) is actually the shorter 2.5-hour version that is being held for last. It was even played at Cannes this year as a single 2.5-hour flick under the lable Kill Bill: Uncut -- even though it was actually a shorter film than the two movies would make if simply re-spliced.

Your claim about the Cannes version is wrong. The cut that played there was some 4hrs in length and as far as QT is concerned that is the version that would have been seen had all concerned not decided to split the movie into two.

This rumour about deleted scenes floating around also seems to be false. Apart from the Michael Jai White scene - which QT was allowed to film despite knowing that it would not appear in the final cut - there's practically nothing left. There was an interview with QT where he specifically says that he used almost everything apart from just tiny bits and pieces. What you see in the two films is literally everything that was shot. That's why the movie is 4+hours long!

As for Miramx's planned release strategy - well, maybe they've changed it in the light of some of the criticism they've been receiving. Or they are waiting to assess sales of the Vol 2 DVD. I'd have thought a double pack of both films would be on the cards for Christmas, though. The 4 hour version won't go out to theatres until next year anyway and it'll be some time after that when the DVD version of it arrives. I wouldn't be surprised if we had to wait until Autumn/Christmas 2005 for that one.

 

[Cassy_w]

I don't believe Jackson when he says the theatrical cuts are his final cuts. They are his "compromised" cuts. He had to deliver 3 hour films for 1 & 2 and was allowed to go a bit longer for 3. Yes, he was not interfeared with on those cuts, but what else could he do? He had to meet those running time requirements and he did.

So far, the extended cuts of the first two were dramatic improvements on already great films. I have not viewed the theatrical cuts since and never will again.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Quick head's up:

Just watched the Kill Bill 2 screener last night. Summary: PQ is much better than the last disc...still a bit "filtered" like all Miramax DVDs these days with a touch of mild EE, but not nearly as bad as the Kill Bill 1 disc (which was so bad, I kept thinking something was wrong with my system). I'd say I'm more or less "happy" with the PQ of this disc...not excited...having seen it projected 35 mm I'm all too aware of just what the DVD is missing (low-level detail and added artifact of mild EE for big-screen viewers), but at least what we have now is in the realm of "normal" DVD quality and not something clearly sub-standard.

DTS audio is amazing of course.

Extras are slim but you knew that.

Hope to get my review posted today...and when I do please carry on some discussion in that thread to help bump it along!

-dave

 

[PaulP]

So are we still getting that super-duper edition Tarantino alluded to earlier, with tons of extras and crap?

 

[Grant H]

That's pretty much the way I feel as well. I was very conscious watching KB 2 in the theater of parts that would likely be cut due to reduncancy issues if it were one long movie. I'd probably end up missing the little bits from the V1 and V2 incarnation.

The other thing about the combined 4 hr cut:

It would have to be split onto two DVD's. Kind of defeats the purpose.

Not to say I wouldn't rent the combined cut if it ever comes out. Watch it come out in some super-duper 4 disc set.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Well, you could always watch both films back to back. What would be the point of releasing a new cut if it were exactly the same as the existing version(s)?

Regards,

 

[SteveCallas]

I can't speak for others, but I am a huge KB fan and I wanted to see both fils re-edited together so that some scenes occur at different times than they would if you watched both films back to back. Volume 1 contains a lot more action than Volume 2, and Volume 2 contains a lot more story than Volume 1, so switching around the order of the movies into one movie would, in my opinion, make it perhaps the finest movie ever.

 

[Rob Pritchard]

>>posted by Grant H: That's pretty much the way I feel as well. I was very conscious watching KB 2 in the theater of parts that would likely be cut due to reduncancy issues if it were one long movie. I'd probably end up missing the little bits from the V1 and V2 incarnation.

The only cuts are the obvious ones; the montage clip straight after The House of Blue Leaves sequence and (surprisingly) the cliffhanger revelation that Bea's daughter is alive. From Vol 2 the opening recap/flashback has gone (but then you would have expected that, right?)

All this is according to the Empire review which also implies that the intermission follows straight after the extended scene between the Bride and Sofie in which the Bride cuts off Sofie's other arm.

>>posted by Grant H: The other thing about the combined 4 hr cut:It would have to be split onto two DVD's. Kind of defeats the purpose.

Why? Plenty of long movies are split across two discs. It's not a problem as far as I can see. So long as the break is sympathetically placed (and I'm sure that with KB it'll be exactly where the intermission was supposed to be).

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Ken,

Did you miss the recent memo on the subject of "taking multiple bites at the apple"?

EDIT: I can see the ads now: "New combined cut containing ZERO minutes of additional footage!"