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Blade Runner: The Final Cut in the UK!

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For the US fans, it's coming to Chicago on November 2, the Music Box Theatre.
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Boy do I wish this was a wider release. I don't go to the movies too often, there actually hasn't been anything that has drug me into a movie theater since Spidey 3, and for that one I wished I had kept my money. But for this, I would probably have gone as many times as I could manage to get a friend to come with me.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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The Digital Bits has the whole release schedule for the US, and whether the movie is projected via 35mm film or 2K digital (Austin is somehow listed twice):

10/26 - Seattle (Cinerama, Seattle - 35mm), Washington D.C. (Uptown, D.C. - 35mm), Portland (Cinema 21, Portland - 35mm), Salt Lake (Gateway Megaplex, SLC - Digital)

11/2 - Chicago (Music Box, Chicago - 35mm), Santa Barbara (Arlington, Santa Barbara - Digital), Baltimore (Landmark Harbor East, Baltimore - Digital)

11/9 - Boston (Coolidge Corner, Brookline - 35mm)

11/16 - Detroit (Main Art, Detroit - 35mm)

11/18 - Austin (Paramount, Austin - 35mm)

11/30 - San Francisco (Embarcadero, San Francisco - 35mm), Dallas (The Inwood, Dallas - 35mm), San Diego (Ken, San Diego - 35mm), Minneapolis (Uptown, Minneapolis - 35mm)

12/7 - Denver (The Landmark @ Greenwood Village - Digital), Philadelphia (The Ritz 5, Philadelphia - 35mm)

12/25 - Boston (The Brattle, Cambridge - 35mm)

1/2/08 - Austin (The Paramount, Austin - 35mm)

1/4/08 - Nashville (The Belcourt, Nashville - 35mm)

1/18/08 - Durham (Carolina, Durham - 35mm)

2/1/08 - Columbus (Drexel Gateway, Columbus - 35mm)

2/15/08 - San Francisco (Castro, San Francisco - 35mm)

2/29/08 - Sacramento (Crest, Sacramento - 35mm)
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Wow, I get to see it! WHOOPEEEEE!! Thanks for that list, Ash, I stopped visiting the Bits because they always reported news several days after all other DVD news sites I check, and they post it in a far less organized fashion.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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It's going wide in the US! YES! After years of waiting! Oh, and unlike a certain other landmark SF film, the DVD will present all versions in anamorphic high quality.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”

Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

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Like I said, if anyone else is planning on going to the Chicago Music Box Theatre to see it, I'll be there for the Nov 2 show (showtimes won't be up until next week, probably Thursday the 1st). Judging by previous Music Box runs, it should be there for two weeks before getting replaced by another movie.
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Saw it tonight. Looked amazing! Still such a powerful film. The changes/cut aren't at all jarring and it works so well as a film.

Creator of Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning to Jedi
Follow me on twitter @jamieSWB. Please support me at - http://www.patreon.com/jamiebenning/

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I was lucky enough to see it last weekend in Detroit. Seeing Blade Runner on a cold, rainy night in Detroit is pretty much the perfect environment to get in the mindset, wouldn't you say?

The new cut is so subtle, it's great. It finally really feels like a totally complete film. The changes to this version are really aces.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Great to hear it! I agree about the film having never quite felt complete. I can't wait to see this, but there is no where within reasonable distance of me showing it, so I will just have to wait for the DVD. No that I hear about others having seen it, it makes the wait even more difficult.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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I saw this last night here in Toronto. All i have to say is....

WOW.

I have never seen Blade Runner in the theater and the experience was one of the best moviegoing experiences of my life. Just to see it on the big screen--the new remastering looks absolutely fabulous, the colors, the detail. Watching Ridely Scott's visual tapestry the way it was meant to be seen was a revelation. The biggest impression I got was the sound--my god, this thing is an aural experience! I have never had a good home theater sound system, but my DVD and VHS tapes did not even come close to capturing what I heard last night. The subtleties, the directional and atmospheric effects and just the sheer quality of the sound. The very first thing you hear in the film is a loud boom, it almost sounds like thunder, that begins the opening credits--this has always had a bit of oomph in it, but hearing this at home...I have to say last night was like watching a whole new movie. When that opening thunder clapped--it just about blew the screening room apart, like some bomb had detonated. It was a literal punch in the face to how different the theatrical experience is. Please, please for the love of god see this motherfucking film in the theater.

As for the new cut--its terrific. And theres hardly anything even changed--little nips and tucks, but if you hadn't seen the film recently you might be hard pressed to even realise that there were indeed any changes. The biggest ones are the original unicorn dream (works sooo much better) and a new matte painting for the dove shot at the end (looks awesome! You would never know it was an alteration). Most of the changes are stuff like re-comping the optical effects, removing visible wires and correcting some physical mistakes. Editorially I noticed that the took a few seconds out of Deckard's introduction reading the newspaper at the noodle bar (which was originally prolongued to accomodate a voice-over which now no longer exists), an extra bit where we see Deckard enter the strip club, and a new wide shot of him making his way through the crowded streets. Plus the extra-violent bits from the Internation Cut and Roy Batty says to Tyrell "I want more life FATHER" instead of "fucker", which is a very interesting change (this alternate I think might have been filmed for the TV airings). The color timing on the film looks great BTW--whereas the original version favored blues, there is a lot more green bias to the image now so as to evoke flourescent lighting in a lot of the scenes. I saw some screen caps of this on the net and wasn't too cnvinced at first but it looks absolutely spectacular on the screen.

Anyway, see Blade Runner--it'll be gone from cinemas very soon and you'll regret it. I am considering going back again tommorrow.

The Secret History of Star Wars -- now available on Amazon.com!

"When George went back and put new creatures into the original Star Wars, I find that disturbing. It’s a revision of history. That bothers me."

--James Cameron, Entertainment Weekly, April 2010

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"Roy Batty says to Tyrell "I want more life FATHER" instead of "fucker", which is a very interesting change"

That is interesting. Even more interesting is that on the subtitle track for the crappy Director's Cut DVD that has been out forever, it also says "father" while Roy very clearly says "fucker" on the actual audio. I remember watching it with subtitles once and discovering this, I even rewound that bit and watched it again to make sure Roy wasn't really saying "father" when for all these years I thought he said fucker. I am sure there is a story behind this variation. If it was just for a TV cut, I am curious how it ended up on the subtitle track for the DVD, and why they changed it for the Final Cut.

Now after reading Zombie's post I am even more saddened by the fact that I don't have a chance to see it in the theater. I wish it was a wide release. It is a lot better than half the crap playing in the theaters at this very moment.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Hey dudes,

I'm very happy to say I've bought the 5 disc blade runner tin box in an import store here in amsterdam. They had it early, cause they couldn't wait to sell it, and just went 'fuck it'. It's one of the best dvd sets I've ever had in my hands ( trust me, that's been a lot, heh) and it's got everything you could possibly ever want to know about our favorite (yeah, that's right, favorite!) sci fi film!

Lucas should be fuckin' ashamed with all the poor star wars releases it has put out in the last few years. He can't possibly ignore this beautiful BR boxset. He has to shape up now and release a mega box with all the star wars things you can possibly imagine ( original original trilogy, workprints, deleted scenes, etc etc) don't you all agree?

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Wow! Twenty days before the official release date, for the states anyway (Dec. 18th). It is interesting, the suggested retail price for the five disc set is $78, while for the 4 disc it is $35. Seems like a lot of money for a tin box and one extra disc. Are they completely different discs? Or is it really just one extra disc and fancy packaging. Regular packaging fits better on the shelf anyway, and one extra disc just doesn't seem worth that much money.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Wow! Twenty days before the official release date, for the states anyway (Dec. 18th). It is interesting, the suggested retail price for the five disc set is $78, while for the 4 disc it is $35. Seems like a lot of money for a tin box and one extra disc. Are they completely different discs? Or is it really just one extra disc and fancy packaging. Regular packaging fits better on the shelf anyway, and one extra disc just doesn't seem worth that much money.


Yeah, I was surprised too, but that's amsterdam for you! Btw, I bought it for 42 euros. I don't know exactly how much dollars that is...

Trust me when I say this. Get the 5-disc box set, not the 4-disc, UNLESS you can really do without the workprint. The description on the little cartoon sleeve that comes with the box says:

Disc 5: Workprint - Rarely seen workprint with alternate music, footage and voice-over. Plus all our variant futures featurette.

Now, I haven't watched the entire workprint yet (don't have the time now), but it really feels different, and I've hear the same from other people who have already seen it. It reminded me quite a bit of Lucas' THX 1138 in the way the sound effects are far more noticable and important, because there's hardly any music from Vangelis in this version. And it's a very interesting way to view the film. I'm sure I'll discover more when I see it in its totallity.

And the art on the discs are really tremendous as are all the things inside the box as well. All 5 discs contain artwork on them from all the important characters: Deckard on disc 1, Rachel on disc 2, Roy on disc 3, Priss on disc 4 and Zhora on disc 5. Very, very atmospheric.

It's also got a lot of neat extra stuff like a 16-page photo and contents booklet, rare art folio featuring works by syd mead and other visionary artists, motion filmclip a letter by ridley scott and signed by ridley scott.

Conclusion: FUCKIN' BUY IT, heh!

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Hi all.

Firt of all, I've been a long time lurker here at OT.com and I'm amazed at just how much I've learned about Star Wars this past year from just visiting the site.

Secondly and more on topic, having recently got a PS3 I was looking forward to making Blade Runner my 1st blu-ray movie purchase. Sadly, here in the UK they're only releasing the 2-disc edition on blu-ray. The 5-disc edition with everything will only be released on DVD.

I hope (although it's very doubtful) that the 5-disc blu-ray released in the US will be a region-free disc otherwise I'll have to settle for the regular DVD upscaled to HD.

This seems to be a very stupid move (some might say Lucus-like) and will more than likely impact sales of the blu-ray release over here.

Now I know that it's not released in the States for another 2 weeks but if anyone could let me know...
1) if the 5-disc version is region-free or Region A.
2) if all 5 versions of the movie have been given a HD transfer or just the Final Cut.

I'd appreciate any help with this, thank you.

Your brain just makes s**t up!

A fate worse than death? Having your head digitally replaced with that of Hayden Christensen!

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If the 5 disk is not available in Region 2 someone is bound to crack the R1 and do a fan bootleg. Its just supply and demand--R2 is not meeting the demand so people have to do hacks and supply themselves. I'm sure the missing disks will be floating around P2P networks sometime soon.

The Secret History of Star Wars -- now available on Amazon.com!

"When George went back and put new creatures into the original Star Wars, I find that disturbing. It’s a revision of history. That bothers me."

--James Cameron, Entertainment Weekly, April 2010

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Can you buy Blu-ray burners yet? Even if there are cracks, how would you get it so you could watch it on your Blu-ray player? It really stinks that R-2 isn't releasing a five disc blu-ray set, I am very surprised actually. Is there a five disc HD-DVD set in R-2. Anyway, don't count of the region 1 being region free, that is pretty much unheard of.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Both blu-ray and HD-DVD releases in the UK are the 2-disc editions containing The Final Cut and the Dangerous Days doc. only.

Which prety much sucks!

I only say about the US blu-ray release being region-free because some releases (The Terminator and Terminator 2 most notably) have been region-free despite the packaging saying it's Region A only.

As I say, I can make do with the standard DVD if it's not, but why should I?




Your brain just makes s**t up!

A fate worse than death? Having your head digitally replaced with that of Hayden Christensen!

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To answer one question, yes, all 5 versions of the film are in full 1080p HD on the 5-disc set, including the workprint (although that was sourced from a print, not the negative, so quality won't be quite as good, though it should still hold up very well).
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Isn't the HD-DVD version region free? Also, what exactly comes in the brief case and is it worth getting? I'm just wondering if it's an actual functioning case, as maybe I could carry some Johnny Walker around in it or something.
40,000 million notches away
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The good news for R2 people I suppose is that you honestly won't have much a desire to watch anything but the Final Cut in the future; there's really nothing but improvements and they are so minor and slight that one might even forget that you are watching a version different from the one you had previously been accustomed to. The biggest gain is really the extras, but those are on the two-disk anyway. Just to make you feel a little better. Personally I doubt I will ever be watching the other versions, even though I pre-ordered the big 5-disk set. If you really want the previous versions as actual viewing alternatives and not "just to have" in the completist sense the way almost everyone else does, then I suppose you might want to suffer either getting the DVD set as well or else waiting for someone to post one of them in HD on the net from the R1 sets.

I could have sworn that the four-disk version was coming to R2 though...

The Secret History of Star Wars -- now available on Amazon.com!

"When George went back and put new creatures into the original Star Wars, I find that disturbing. It’s a revision of history. That bothers me."

--James Cameron, Entertainment Weekly, April 2010

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I don't think it is a full size case. Look it up on amzon.com, it shows pictures of everything it comes with.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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The good news for R2 people I suppose is that you honestly won't have much a desire to watch anything but the Final Cut in the future; there's really nothing but improvements and they are so minor and slight that one might even forget that you are watching a version different from the one you had previously been accustomed to.


Not necessarily true. I know from experience there are many people that enjoy the original, theatrical cut more than the final cut (or director's cut) and will be very happy with disc 3. I for one am one of those people. Primarily because there are no silly, movie and theme-destroying allusions to Deckard being a replicant. Furthermore, I've always been somewhat of a fan of the added V.O track and I think the original ending is great and definately not hollywood like some say. Ridley Scott can't always be right, heh.

What you consider (technical improvements at that) I don't.

To each his own I guess...you hear that Lucas?!

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Yeah, the theatrical cut is actually probably the disc I am most excited about. I liked the Director's Cut well enough, but I have always been partial to the version I saw first. I am also looking forward to seeing the workprint, just for kicks.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape