Tag: Mario Puzo’s The Godfather

‘Godfather, Coda,’ Season 3 of ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘Honest Thief’ Top Weekly Slate of New Releases

Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone — a new edit and restoration of The Godfather Part III — and season three of the hit TV series “Yellowstone,” both from Paramount Home Entertainment, top the slate of new home releases available beginning Dec. 8.

The week’s slate of new home releases also includes Universal Pictures’ Honest Thief, a drama starring Liam Neeson as a guilt-conscious bank robber who confronts FBI agents wanting to rob him, and the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray debuts of two action movies, Total Recall and Collateral. And baseball fans can pick up the highlight film of this year’s World Series won by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The rebranded version of the third and final film in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” trilogy has been newly restored and re-edited, and the Blu-ray includes an exclusive introduction by Coppola and access to a digital copy of the film.

“Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is an acknowledgment of Mario’s and my preferred title and our original intentions for what became The Godfather Part III,” Coppola said

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Season three of “Yellowstone,” which along with the series’ first two seasons has consistently ranked among the top “Watched at Home” releases, is being released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Dec. 8, along with a limited-edition boxed set of all three seasons on DVD only. (The latter has already sold out on Amazon.)

Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, the popular Paramount Network series stars Kevin Costner and follows the story of a multi-generational family that controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. The third-season finale of “Yellowstone” was the most-watched cable telecast of the year, and the top cable telecast since the “Game of Thrones” finale in May 2019.  The show has been renewed for a fourth season on Paramount Network.

Honest Thief also becomes available for home audiences on Dec. 8 through digital retailers only. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will release Honest Thief on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Dec. 29.

Written, directed and produced by Mark Williams, the film stars Liam Neeson as a notorious bank robber who turns himself in after falling in love, only to be double-crossed by a pair of corrupt FBI agents. The merciless agents soon discover there’s nothing more dangerous than an elite criminal mastermind seeking justice. Honest Thief earned $13.5 million at the domestic box office.

Lionsgate will release the 1990 sci-fi classic Total Recall on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time Dec. 8 in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary. The three-disc combo pack will include the film on both 4K and standard Blu-ray, plus a Blu-ray of additional bonus material. The film has been restored by StudioCanal in 4K from a scan of the original 35mm negative.

Directed by Paul Verhoeven and inspired by the Philip K. Dick short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a construction worker on Earth in 2084 whose memory implant of a vacation to Mars awakens the dormant personality of a secret agent involved with revolutionary forces on the red planet. The cast also includes Rachel Ticotin, Michael Ironside, Sharon Stone and Ronny Cox.

A version of the combo pack in Steelbook packaging will be available exclusively at Best Buy.

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Director Michael Mann’s 2004 thriller Collateral arrives in a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray combo  Dec. 8 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Remastered under the supervision of the director, the new 4K Ultra HD presentation features HDR. The Blu-ray in the combo pack is also remastered.

The film stars Tom Cruise as Vincent, a cool, calculating contract killer at the top of his game. Jamie Foxx received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Max, a cabbie with big dreams and little to show for it.  Max transports Vincent on his next job — one night, five stops, five hits and a getaway. And after the fateful night, neither man will ever be the same.

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Shout! Factory Dec. 8 will release The 2020 World Series, the highlight film of Major League Baseball’s 2020 championship season that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers win the Fall Classic. The film will be narrated by longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who retired in 2016. It will also be available on the same date digitally, to own and rent from all major platforms.

Paramount Sets Dec. 8 Blu-ray Disc, Digital Release Date for New Edit, Restoration of ‘The Godfather Part III’

Paramount Home Entertainment has set a Dec. 8 date for the Blu-ray Disc and digital debut of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone — a new edit and restoration of The Godfather Part III.

The rebranded version of the third and final film in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” trilogy “achieves director-screenwriter Coppola and screenwriter Puzo’s original vision for the finale, which has been meticulously restored for the finest presentation of the Corleone saga’s last chapter,” the studio said in early September, when it first announced the project.

The 1990 release of the third film was maligned by critics as not living up to the standard set by the first two films in the franchise, which won the Oscar for Best Picture for the 1972 and 1974 movie years, respectively.

“Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is an acknowledgment of Mario’s and my preferred title and our original intentions for what became The Godfather Part III,” Coppola said in a Sept. 3 statement. “For this version of the finale, I created a new beginning and ending, and rearranged some scenes, shots and music cues. With these changes and the restored footage and sound, to me, it is a more appropriate conclusion to The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and I’m thankful to Jim Gianopulos and Paramount for allowing me to revisit it.”

The Blu-ray presentation will include the newly restored and re-edited film, an exclusive introduction by Coppola, and access to a digital copy of the film.

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Coppola’s three-part movie adaptation of Puzo’s novel chronicles the rise and fall of the Corleone mob family. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, The Godfather Part III was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film follows Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in his 60s as he seeks to free his family from crime and find a suitable successor to his empire.

Coppola and his production company American Zoetrope worked from a 4K scan of the original negative to undertake a frame-by-frame restoration of both the new Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and the original The Godfather Part III. Zoetrope and Paramount’s restoration team began by searching for more than 50 original takes to replace lower-resolution opticals in the original negative. This process took more than six months and involved sifting through 300 cartons of negative.  American Zoetrope worked diligently to repair scratches, stains, and other anomalies that could not be addressed previously due to technology constraints, while enhancements were made to the original 5.1 audio mix. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, midway through the project all work — even the search for the negative — shifted to the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles and was completed remotely.

“Mr. Coppola oversaw every aspect of the restoration while working on the new edit, ensuring that the film not only looks and sounds pristine, but also meets his personal standards and directorial vision,” said Andrea Kalas, SVP of Paramount Archives.

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Godfather Part III has a 69% favorable rating from critics and a 78% favorable rating from audiences. This compares to 98% for The Godfather from both segments and 98% from critics and 97% from audiences for The Godfather Part II.