I
found this story online today about a group of folk who are little annoyed at
the movie studios for not putting out the director's cut of the Ridley Scott film,
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Well, we're always getting tons of these online petitions on
the web right? So what's so diffferent about this one? Well, the guys that have
set up the site 'Show Us The
Movie' are a little peeved that Fox included footage in the original promotional
trailers, released promo images seen the World over, that were not included in
the cut of the movie that was originally released in theaters. Apparently the
footage has been restored to the director's cut version though, but they don;t
like the fact that the film will not be released in cinemas. Here's their statement
from their online blog.
20th
Century Fox released "Kingdom of Heaven" in May 2005. It was not the
version advertised by the trailers, but a truncated version that omitted entire
characters and major plot development. In December 2005, Fox released the longer
"Director's Cut", which is the COMPLETE movie. It has been released
for two weeks, in ONE theater, in ONE city. We want Fox to release it NATIONWIDE.
Show us the movie we paid for!
It
continues....
E-mail 20th Century Fox Are you interested in:
(a)
Seeing the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven? (b) Letting movie studios know
that as movie-goers, we expect to see the movie advertised in the trailers, and
that we will hold them accountable if they don't show the movie they advertised? (c)
Encouraging 20th Century Fox to release a DVD of the KOH Director's cut sooner
rather than later?
Here's
one of the images that they are referring to, the apparent crowning of a 'boy
King', seemingly ommited from the theatrical cut.
“Watching
the trailers and other clips at the official movie website got me very excited
to see Kingdom of Heaven last May” said co-blog owner Jane Green. “But
when I watched the movie, I wondered what happened to some of the characters and
scenes I had seen in those trailers. They were missing from the movie. It seemed
chopped up. When Fox released the Director’s Cut in December on one screen,
critics’ reviews confirmed my suspicions. The movie Fox advertised turned
out to not be the movie I watched in the theater. Characters were left out, entire
sub-plots were gone.”
The
blog owners hope Hollywood will heed the message that movie-goers are consumers
who expect to get what they’ve paid for. Shortening movies to get more screenings
per day and more bodies in seats can backfire. “Kingdom of Heaven, if
it had been shown in its intended length, could have been an award contender,
according to the movie critics who reviewed the Director’s Cut,” Green
said. “Instead, the chopped version received poor reviews and didn’t
do very well at the box office. If Hollywood hears from enough dissatisfied fans,
perhaps the lesson learned will help end the box office slump that has plagued
studios in 2005.”
It's
all true in a way, and I suppose all that the fans are asking for, is to see the
movie that Fox 'advertised'. There are two sides to every story though, and I
suppose the trailers
that are referred to were cut months before Ridley Scott completed his original
cut. What do you think? Are these guys right? Personally, I couldn't care less,
as long as we get a good movie and our money's worth, right? Are there any other
flicks that the studios have done a similar thing with? Answers on an email. To
see the complete blog, click
it here.
