30 years after it was released to a largely negative response, Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather III returns in a new edit that purportedly presents the film Coppola initially wished to release. Boasting a whole new opening and ending, along with multiple edits throughout, the film has been newly restored and will be released under the new title of The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
Coppola's new cut is set to play cinemas in December if restrictions allow, and will be available on blu-ray and digital from December 8th.
Check out the trailer and an explanatory featurette below.
The official synopsis reads:
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of The Godfather: Part III, director/screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola brings a definitive new edit and restoration of the final film in his epic Godfather trilogy—Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), now in his 60s, seeks to free his family from crime and find a suitable successor to his empire. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence. The film’s meticulously restored picture and sound, under the supervision of American Zoetrope and Paramount Pictures, includes a new beginning and ending, as well as changes to scenes, shots, and music cues. The resulting project reflects author Mario Puzo and Coppola’s original intentions of The Godfather: Part III, and delivers, in the words of Coppola, “a more appropriate conclusion to The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.
