The Godfather - Part 3 Gets a New Recut

Francis Ford Coppola's 3rd Godfather Film Soon With New Version

All good things come in threes:

In recent years, Francis Ford Coppola had once again dealt with three of his films and had previously made new versions for two of them. As you can read here, a new final cut of Apocalypse Now will be released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD in summer 2019. The Director's Cut of The Cotton Club is already finished and will hopefully be released soon on home video. Details on the far-reaching changes can be found here. The third in the group is The Godfather - Part 3, which the director would like to release in a new version in 2022 for the 50th anniversary of the first part. Above all, he wanted to release it with a new title: Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.

Coppola: "I want to try that again, and I'll ask Paramount because in a few years there will be the 50th anniversary of the first film. I want to use a title I tried to but wasn't allowed to, one that came from Mario Puzo. It's Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. But 'coda' means epilogue. In other words, you got part one and part two and then the epilogue."

Just like Apocalypse Now, there are already several versions of the third Godfather movie. Besides the theatrical version there is also a longer Final Director's Cut. Of course, we don't know yet what exactly should be different in the 3rd version, only that Coppola would like to shorten the film. And that by 14 minutes. Thus, the runtime would be shorter than all previous versions.

Coppola: "There's a cut I want to make that would be 14 minutes shorter. Usually, I go back and make them longer. This would be effective, and it makes the ending break your heart."

But before he can get to work he needs the permission of Paramount and his boss Jim Gianopulos. But he is in good spirits. And the 50th anniversary of the film series is a good reason for a new edition of all 3 films.