Following the news of HBO Max debuting the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League, ComingSoon.net asked our readers what their favorite director’s cuts of films are, and with over 1500 votes the results are in and Peter Jackson’s extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy have come out victorious! Check out the rest of the results below!
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What is the Best Director’s Cut
Top Five
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Extended Edition (29%, 450 votes)
- Aliens: Director’s Cut (10%, 156 votes)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Ultimate Edition (9%, 140 votes)
- Blade Runner: The Final Cut (9%, 138 votes)
- Kingdom of Heaven: Extended Director’s Cut (7%, 110 votes)
While Jackson’s adaptations of the J.R.R. Tolkien novels already saw elongated runtimes, there was a load of material cut from the trilogy and fans have poured an abundance of praise upon the later extended releases of the film. James Cameron’s classic 1986 sci-fi action horror was wildly acclaimed by critics and audiences and upon release on VHS and LaserDisc release, a special edition featuring 17 minutes of excised footage was included. Many fans fell in love with Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice upon its release, but critics were not very impressed and its home media release saw the inclusion of his director’s cut, entitled the Ultimate Edition, which received a slightly better reception. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner has seen a number of different cuts released to audiences, the majority of which did not have approval from the director until the 2007 release of The Final Cut, on which he had complete artistic control. Blade Runner wasn’t the only film from Scott to receive edits against his wishes as the 2005 historical epic Kingdom of Heaven was cut down by over 45 minutes, with the theatrical release receiving mixed reviews and leading to the extended director’s cut being included with the the DVD release, which received rave reviews from critics in contrast.
Here are the rest of the results:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day Extended Edition, Special Edition (5%, 79 votes)
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (5%, 74 votes)
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (3%, 52 votes)
Alien 3: Assembly Cut (3%, 44 votes)
Star Wars: Special Edition (Various Edits) (2%, 26 votes)
Daredevil: Director’s Cut (2%, 25 votes)
X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Rogue Cut (1%, 23 votes)
Alien: Director’s Cut (1%, 20 votes)
Logan Noir (1%, 19 votes)
Apocalypse Now Redux (1%, 18 votes)
Once Upon a Time in America: Restored Version (1%, 17 votes)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Cut (1%, 17 votes)
The Exorcist: Extended Director’s Cut (1%, 16 votes)
The Godfather Saga (1%, 15 votes)
Donnie Darko: Director’s Cut (1%, 13 votes)
I Am Legend – Director’s Cut (1%, 10 votes)
Once Upon a Deadpool (1%, 10 votes)
Mad Max: Black & Chrome (1%, 9 votes)
The Punisher: Extended Cut (0%, 6 votes)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 20th Anniversary Edition (0%, 6 votes)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Director’s Cut (0%, 6 votes)
The Warriors – Ultimate Director’s Cut (0%, 6 votes)
Amadeus: Director’s Cut (0%, 5 votes)
The Mist Black and White (0%, 4 votes)
The Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut (0%, 4 votes)
Highlander II: Renegade Version (0%, 4 votes)
Touch of Evil: Restored Version (0%, 3 votes)
Payback: Straight Up (0%, 3 votes)
Heaven’s Gate: Director’s Cut (0%, 3 votes)
Alexander: Revisited Cut, Director’s Cut, Ultimate Cut (0%, 3 votes)
Nightbreed: The Cabal Cut (0%, 3 votes)
Alien: Resurrection Special Edition (0%, 2 votes)
The Big Red One: The Restoration (0%, 1 vote)
The Last Emperor: Director’s Cut (0%, 1 vote)
Revolution: Revisited (0%, 0 votes)
THX 1138: The George Lucas Director’s Cut (0%, 0 votes)
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Films suffering from different cuts between a director and a studio is nothing new, with most re-releases or Blu-ray editions simply featuring an additional handful of jokes or action sequences, but there are a number of times when reshoots and edits cause a film to change drastically and with later cuts receiving warmer responses from critics and audiences alike. Some of the most notable include the director’s cut of 2003’s Daredevil, as well as Ridley Scott’s numerous cuts of Blade Runner, the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 more in line with director David Fincher’s vision, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and Kingdom of Heaven: Extended Director’s Cut.
Other specially released versions of the film may not necessarily change the story of a film in any major fashion, but add a unique style that feels more befitting of the project its attached to, with two of the most notable including black-and-white versions of Mad Max: Fury Road and Logan, both of which were received positively by viewers and the filmmakers.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League will reportedly cost around $20-30 million in order to properly finish the editing and visual effects of the director’s original vision. The original post-production crew is also expected to return along with the cast members to record additional dialogue for the cut. No new footage will be shot, however.
Fueled by the hero’s restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Justice League sees Bruce Wayne enlist the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
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Justice League, which features a screenplay from Chris Terrio from a story by Snyder and Terrio, stars Affleck as Batman, Cavill as Superman, Gadot as Wonder Woman, Momoa as Aquaman, Miller as The Flash, Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, with J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.
Released in November 2017, the film earned mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, praising the action and performances from Gadot and Miller while criticizing every other aspect of the film, namely the inconsistent tone that many fault Joss Whedon (The Avengers) for after taking over directorial duties from Snyder. With a large budget of $300 million and a break-even point of $750 million, the film is considered a box office bomb having grossed only $658 million.
