Top 10 Extended Director's Cuts That Improved Everything

Stupid studio interference messing with the director’s vision! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Extended Director’s Cuts That Made a Movie Better. For this list, we’ll be looking at various director’s cuts and extended versions that made the movie far better than its theatrical counterpart.

This movie should have been better than it was. It recounts the electric rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, and it stars the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, and Tom Holland. Despite the intriguing historical premise and outstanding cast, the movie was rushed through post production and received poor reviews when it debuted at TIFF in 2017. Following that, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon raised enough money to film some reshoots and trimmed roughly ten minutes from the movie. The result was “The Current War: Director’s Cut,” which was theatrically released in October 2019. And while it still wasn’t great by any means, it was a heck of a lot better than the festival version! Actually completing a movie will do that…

For the most blatant and egregious example of studio interference in movie history, we give you “Once Upon a Time in America.” This was director Sergio Leone’s opus, a roughly four-hour-long gangster epic. And The Ladd Company shredded it to ribbons. Due to a combination of the absurd length, concerns over the graphic violence, and the wish for more money, the distributors cut the film down to just 139 minutes. Yes, an hour and a half’s worth of material was missing from the movie. Not only that, they completely re-edited the story into chronological order, which of course ruined the pacing, flow, and intended dramatic plotting. Luckily, the movie has since been made right and is now regarded as a masterpiece.

Superheroes have been ruling the cinema since the early 2000s. But “Daredevil” is like that one friend nobody really likes. Yeah, they’re there, but no one really pays them any attention. At least, such is the case with the theatrical version. However, an extended director’s cut was released in 2004 which considerably improved the quality of the film. It added roughly thirty minutes of new material, but it also cut some sequences like Matt’s confessions and a love scene between Elektra and Matt. Included in the new material was a brand new subplot involving Coolio’s Daunte Jackson, a flashback scene with Matt and his adoptive mother, and more brutal and visceral violence. It was a vast improvement on a REALLY bad movie.

Homer’s “Iliad” deserved a better adaptation than 2004’s “Troy.” Luckily, that better adaptation came in the form of the 2007 director’s cut. Warner Home Video pumped $1 million into its creation, which included significant edits and re-introducing thirty minutes of footage back into the movie. This director’s cut includes far more nudity and graphic violence, including a much longer, and far more sickening depiction of the sacking of Troy. It also expands the story and allows for better character development, especially for Priam and Sean Bean’s Odysseus, who was unfortunately sidelined in the theatrical release. More character work, more realistic violence, and more story – what’s not to love?

Fan opinion remains firmly divided on the necessity and quality of “Redux.” For some, “Apocalypse Now” is perfect as it is. For others, “Redux” serves as a wonderful expansion of an already fantastic film. And we say “expansion” lightly, because “Redux” is like a whole new movie. Of course, there is the 49 minutes worth of new material, including a second meeting with the Playmates and an interaction with French colonists on a rubber plantation. But there is also a new score and an updated color balance, which required cinematographer Vittorio Storaro to permanently cut the original negative of the film. The results were divisive but undeniably mesmerizing.

“Superman II” suffered under a problematic production. Director Richard Donner was fired when the movie was 75% complete and Richard Lester was brought in to replace him. In order to receive the director’s credit, Lester reshot a majority of Donner’s scenes. It wasn’t until 2006 that we finally saw Donner’s vision. And it was glorious. “The Richard Donner Cut” is practically a different movie altogether, containing a different opening and ending, new scenes, alternate takes, and a far more serious tone. It’s obviously a little rough around the edges, as Donner never completed his original movie, but it certainly makes for a fascinating glimpse into an alternate history and what could have been.

When “Watchmen” was released in 2009, it received a divisive response. Viewers loved the style and risk-taking but criticized the overreliance on action and confusing narrative. Following the middling theatrical release, two new versions were concocted. The first was an extended director’s cut, which included twenty minutes of additional footage. And then we have the “Ultimate Cut,” which took the director’s cut and intertwined it with scenes from the fictional comic book “Tales of the Black Freighter.” The result was a 215-minute behemoth that many comic fans consider to be the definitive and most accurate version of the film. It wouldn’t be the last time that fans expressed interest in seeing the director’s cut of a Zack Snyder film.

Ridley Scott scored a massive hit with “Gladiator,” so he returned to the swords and sandals epic genre with “Kingdom of Heaven,” which followed a blacksmith who fought in the Crusades. It was… uh… no “Gladiator.” It currently sits at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes and performed poorly at the box office. Scott blamed the poor reaction on test audiences and studio interference, and he quickly went to work on a director’s cut. He reinstated 45 minutes of cut material back into the movie, and these added scenes brought much-needed character development and clearer motivations. It also helped expand the story and added some much-needed depth and emotion. The result was a resounding success that critics instantly hailed as far superior to the theatrical release.

If there’s one director who has suffered under studio interference more than Zack Snyder, it’s Ridley Scott! Scott’s masterpiece “Blade Runner” was tarnished upon release and many people were quick to write it off. A full decade later, Scott finally released his director’s cut, which included the removal of Deckard’s controversial voice-over and an altered ending. But the definitive edition came in 2007 with “The Final Cut.” This version contains improved visual effects and a brighter look, an altered unicorn sequence, more graphic violence, and a ton of little changes that make this version infinitely superior to its predecessors. Fifteen years later, we finally saw Ridley’s true creative vision, and it was a magnificent sight to behold.

It’s seemingly impossible to improve on perfection, but Peter Jackson and his team managed to do it. While the theatrical cuts of these films are certainly wonderful, both the movie buffs and the Tolkien experts agree that the extended versions are the way to go. They add so much rich material to the films - including entire subplots, extensive character work, and extended action sequences – that it’s impossible to return to the theatrical editions after seeing them. Seriously, the work done to Faramir’s character arc alone is enough to warrant the extended editions! And yeah, Tom Bombadil is still absent, but is anyone really complaining about that?