'Blade Runner 2049' Release Date, Latest News: Theatrical Version Is the Director's Cut, Says Villeneuve
The movie "Blade Runner 2049" is set to hit theaters in less than two weeks, and some fans are wondering if it will have a director's cut. Several days ago, film director Denis Villeneuve revealed that the upcoming theatrical release would be its final version, hence there will not be a director's cut.
Over the years, it has been a tradition for studios to release a director's cut of their films after their theatrical releases. While such was also the case in the first "Blade Runner" movie, it looks like that will not be applied for this sequel.
Asked whether "Blade Runner 2049" would have a director's cut, Villeneuve straightforwardly answered that there would be none and explained why.
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"The thing is that the movie you're going to see is the director's cut. There will be no further... maybe there will be a 'studio version,' maybe a producer version, but not a director's version. That's my director's cut. So I don't think there will be alternate versions. If there are alternate versions, they are not from me," he said in an interview with Europe Plus (which can be found at the 5:09 mark of the video).
"Blade Runner 2049" will serve as the sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic and will be set three decades after the events featured in the original film. The first "Blade Runner" movie came under fire because of its stilted ending as well as a voiceover by Harrison Ford. It also had to deal with trouble as a number of studio executives tried to meddle with its final cut.
According to Villeneuve, fans of the franchise do not need to sit tight for a special release to enjoy and understand the upcoming movie because what they will see in theaters next month will be his very own version of the film. He also said he had total artistic freedom over "Blade Runner 2049" so he was able to place as much content in it as he liked. True enough, the upcoming sequel is longer than the original film since it runs for two hours and 32 minutes.
"Blade Runner 2049" will open in U.S. theaters on Oct. 6.
