Fran­cis Ford Cop­po­la has pre­pared a new edit of The God­fa­ther Part III

Even among those most devot­ed acolytes of Fran­cis Ford Cop­po­la, the third chap­ter of The God­fa­ther saga has a com­pli­cat­ed rep­u­ta­tion. The first pair of install­ments have been wide­ly accept­ed as two of the great­est films of all time, set­ting a high stan­dard that the final sequel has nev­er quite been able to meet. Some regard the con­clu­sion with out­right scorn, some mere­ly allow it to be fine, but it has nev­er amassed much of an ardent fandom.

That may change in the near future, how­ev­er, based on an intrigu­ing announce­ment from the head hon­chos at Para­mount Pic­tures. Cop­po­la has been hard at work ready­ing a new edit of The God­fa­ther: Part III, which he has flour­ish­ing­ly titled Mario Puzo’s The God­fa­ther, Coda: The Death of Michael Cor­leone, and the pub­lic will be able to get an eye­ful this winter.

Coppola’s been on a hot streak of restora­tions and edi­to­r­i­al reworks as of late, hav­ing spiffed up Apoc­a­lypse Now and the Cot­ton Club in recent years. This could be the biggest turn­around in esteem yet, as the release men­tions that the new ver­sion will alter the end­ing to adhere more close­ly to Cop­po­la and writer Mario Puzo’s vision. (What­ev­er that might entail.)

Coppola’s includ­ed state­ment is as fol­lows: ​“Mario Puzo’s THE GOD­FA­THER, Coda: The Death of Michael Cor­leone is an acknowl­edge­ment of Mario’s and my pre­ferred title and our orig­i­nal inten­tions for what became The God­fa­ther: Part III. 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.”

For com­pletists, this will be can’t‑miss view­ing. The new cut will get a the­atri­cal run in Decem­ber, with a home video release planned for soon after­ward. All that’s the good news — the bad news is that we’ve all got three months of thumb-twid­dling until we get there.

Fran­cis Ford Coppola’s Mario Puzo’s The God­fa­ther, Coda: The Death of Michael Cor­leone is avail­able on Blu-ray™ and dig­i­tal down­load on 8 December.