Kingdom of Heaven ... October 11th (1 Viewer)

[Elijah Sullivan]

Ridley Scott's Kingdom Of Heaven will be made availible in seperate fullscreen and widescreen versions. Both will be two-disc sets. No cover art availble; fingers crossed for the awesome theatrical poster being used.

No word about the Extended Edition much spoken-of during the film's publicity by Scott and star Orlando Bloom. (Seeing as no deleted scenes are listed for Disc 2, and we know that upwards of an hour of footage has yet to be seen, I think the chances are pretty good that this Extended Edition is already being prepared.)

Sorry, guys, I only see DD 5.1 listed... no DTS. If you don't like that, it should only take you one post to explain why. :rolleyes

Region 1
Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 - French, Spanish
Closed Captioned - English
Subtitles - English, Spanish, French

Disc 1:
Additional Release Material:
Bonus Trailer
Featurette - Inside Look: Tristan & Isolde
Text Commentary

Disc 2:
Additional Release Material:
Bonus Features - 1. History Channel -History vs Hollywood: KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
2. A&E Movie Real: KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Featurettes - 1. Ridley Scott: Creating Worlds
2. Production
3. Wardrobe
4. Orlando Bloom:The Adventure of a Lifetime
Bonus Trailers
Interactive Features:
Scene Editing

I'm expected that these features will be confirmed/added to/corrected by quite a few sources in the next couple weeks. I thought this was a hugely underrated movie -- not a masterpiece or anything, but definately a special film.

Can't wait to see it again... with a self-imposed intermission & popcorn break

EDIT: "Inside Look: Tristan & Isolde"... does this mean they are finally gonna release this movie? It's been on the shelf for a year and a half, I believe...

 

[Jack _Webster]

Can't wait. In my opinion, this was the first legitimate historical epic since Gladiator (EDIT: I take that back - how soon I forget Master and Commander!). You're right in saying that it wasn't a masterpiece (not enough character development could be the reason). I look forward to the eventual Director's Cut (I think it's supposed to come out either at the end of this year or sometime next year).

I'm undecided on whether I'll buy this version or not. Might end up just waiting for the DC and simply renting this.

 

[PaulP]

Ridley Scott is God, so I'm picking this up, and the Extended Edition whenever that comes out, which it obviously will, seeing as how this doesn't even have Ridley's commentary on it.

Amazon has it already: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000AARKOO/

 

[Ruz-El]

I'm gonna wait on this, I skipped it in the theaterm knowing full well that a DC was coming. When the film maker is talking about a DC during promo's for the theatrical cut, it's probably a safe bet that the theatrical is heavilly compromised. Of course, now the DC well never come out, since I skipped it in the theaters to wait for it.

I might grab this if I find it cheap previously viewed, other wise I'll hold out for the DC.

 

[Harold Wazzu]

I will rent it first then buy the extended version, should be a great addition to the historical epics out there.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I'll watch it on DVD and wait impatiently for the release of the Extended DC to DVD.

 

[JasonKZ]

Anyone actually heard anything concrete about an extended cut/ director's editon?

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

EDIT: If it is permissable for me to quote DVDTalk? I'm sorry if that isn't okay, but it was the best source I could find:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/archive.../t-417947.html

 

[JasonKZ]

Thanks - great post!! Here is some other info from that thread:

here's from DavisDVD's Rumor Mill (http://www.davisdvd.com/news/rumor.html):
Ridley Scott's already looking at a longer cut of his Kingdom of Heaven to debut onto DVD. The theatrical version of his Crusades epic, which tells the story of the fall of Jerusalem in 1186, clocks in at 145 minutes. In a recent interview Scott stated that a more ambitious 220-minute version is in the works. "The theatrical version is the best I could possibly make it given the restraints I was working under." Those restraints included a directive from Fox studios to keep the film under 150 minutes.

When he sat down to edit the film, which opens today, Scott had his own criteria. "I think some operas, plays and even some movies are too long. With Kingdom of Heaven, I did not want anyone looking at their watches during this film. That, more than anything, was my guiding principle in trimming it for this release." Look for the theatrical edition disc set to be released later this year, and a full four-disc extended special edition on tap for 2006.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Wow... 220 minutes!

The whole story, as I heard it, was that Ridley Scott assembled what he thought was the best working cut of Kingdom of Heaven, and it was around three hours long (probably the rumored 195 minute version).

When the film tested badly, and it did test pretty badly in America, Scott decided that he was wrong, and with a slightly hot head, a la Legend, decided the best thing to do would be cut an hour from the movie. He did so, and ever since insisted that the 145-minute cut was the best, and his true "director's cut". (There was zero studio interferance on this film that I know of. As for the 150-minute studio cap -- I think they had decided to go with his three-hour cut until they tested it.)

That's all I know about this. Scott is one of my favorite directors, but if there is anything about him that bothers me, it's his deep need to please the audience, to the point where he would rather mangle his own material than release a "bad" film. It's too bad. I don't know that this was the case with Kingdom of Heaven, but word on the street is that it was.

Hopefully, all will be righted in the next year, unlike the 20 years it took to repair Blade Runner and Legend.

 

[PaulP]

I don't think it's frowned upon, but I usually see it being refered to as "another forum"...

 

[Edwin-S]

I think adding another hour on to this film will be a big mistake. The pacing of the original theatrical cut wasn't fast to begin with. One of the actors stated that the extended cut will focus more on the characters and less on the crusades. I do not think that the theatrical cut particularly focused on the crusades. Most of the movie was about the relationships between the different players.

The problem with the film was not the story. The problem was Orlando Bloom was the lead actor, and he just seemed to have no personality. He was bland. A movie is in trouble when the supporting characters are more interesting than the character who is supposed to be the protagonist.

Adding another hour of Orlando Bloom's bland, boring, performance is not going to improve the film one bit. As a curiosity it will be interesting to see the extended cut, but I think the theatrical cut is going to end up being the best cut of this film.



Some might disagree that Ridley Scott "repaired" BLADE RUNNER.

 

[Jack _Webster]

I feel completely the opposite. I had no problem with Orlando's performance and actually felt it was the editing which failed him. The fault of this film was that we didn't know enough about the characters. It was all about the plot and not enough character development.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

First review of the dvd is up at Dark Horizons:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/dvds/d-kingdom.php

Has anyone else seen any reviews around, or maybe scored a copy for themselves, yet? It's just a little over two weeks out, now, that embargo should be coming down right about now...

And has there been any further news about the Extended Edition? I really don't want to harass Mr. Lauzirika, but it's really tempting to ask, as politely and modestly as I can manage, whether the producer of that project has any information he is allowed to share?

I'm getting my copy of the theatrical version disc on Oct. 6th, and I do love that cut of the film, but I'm almost more excited about the Extended Edition of Kingdom of Heaven than any of the first-run releases coming in the next year! I know... insanity...

 

[MuneebM]

I have a picture of the cover and it clearly says DTS. Who said no DTS?

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

I did. It's what my distibutor listed (and still does). That said, I trust your source better, provided that this isn't another case of Canada getting DTS and us getting DD5.1 again?

By the way... I would love to see that picture if you could post it! You have the back cover art? Cheers.

 

[Paul McElligott]

The following sources all say the U.S. DVD has DTS:

IMDB
Amazon
DVD Planet
DVD Empire
Buy.com

 

[MuneebM]

Not super clear, but you can definitely make out the DTS

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

Man... they're selling it as a dumb action movie! If the marketing department wanted to try a little harder, they might find a larger audience for this movie. Too bad.

And no mention of the stars?! You have to search the small print to see any sign of the huge talent list attached to this film. Wouldn't it be pretty easy to sell this movie based simply on rest of the cast: Liam Neeson, Eva Green, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson? Put that on the front cover and you sell twice as many copies, I guarantee.

Still, DTS is pretty good news. Thanks for posting that image, MuneebM. Something to keep me going until next Thursday.

 

[Brent M]

Yeah, who sells a film better than David Thewlis and Brandon Gleeson?