The Infinite Editions

My friend watched Caligula (1979) and found out that there are about a million different cuts made of this movie. Mostly the reason has been sencorship, since Caligula is a movie containing lots of sex scenes.

This made me think. Why do they make so many cuts nowdays? We are already used to have the cut that we see on the big screen, then when the movie is released on DVD, we have the normal version which is the same as seen in theatres, then we get the director's cut and special edition and extented edition. On top of all this we also get the definitive edition and of course the edition that is somehow linked to the movie's name (The Hobbit Edition, and other stupidly named editions).

Very often these different editions are not so different from each other. Maybe the length varies from 180 minutes to 179 minutes. One scene may have been added and one has been taken away. Or maybe the special effects have been improved (Star Wars).


We were completely happy with the original versions of the original movies. Right?

The releasing of so many different cuts seems like the industry wants more money. Or the other reason for this may be that no-one agrees what version is the right one. Hence the director and the producer have different cuts to show what they think the movie should have been. Whatever the reason, the film industry doesn't give very positive image of itself with this.

Then there are the Anniversary Editions. Now these I think are worth buying especially if it's an old classic we're talking about or otherwise a masterpiece. These editions usually contain masses of extras: documentaries, deleted scenes, storyboards, interviews, making ofs... You know. They resemble very much to the Collector's editions.


Must...have...the...head...

Of course it would be most consumer friendly if there were only two editions released: one for normal viewers with some extras (maybe trailers and a documentary) and one for the collectors. The latter edition of course would come in a neat packagin and contain every possible extras.

One alternative besides those two would be "the Shaun way". Let me explain. When Shaun of the Dead was released on DVD it had very good extras right away. No need to wait for the edition that has all the nice bonus materials. I think they pretty much put all the necessary stuff on the DVD already. That's how you do it.


Go Shaun team!