Back to the Future informatie

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

The long-awaited DVD release of the "Back To The Future" films will come in the second half of 2002, and writer/producer Bob Gale says he doubts the film will be altered to jibe with post-Sept. 11 sentiments.

The "Back To The Future" fan site bttf.com reports that recent broadcast airings of the first film in the trilogy have "butchered" the movie's intro, which includes scenes from Libya.

The cuts have raised fears that the movie will be altered out of sensitivity; Steven Spielberg reportedly snipped a reference to "terrorists" for his upcoming reissue of "E.T."

Gale said he was unaware the networks had altered the film and doubted director Robert Zemeckis would have approved. And he was confident the original version of the films would end up on the DVD.

"Although I'm not the director and I don't have final say, I can't believe Bob Z would allow it," he said, adding "if he considered it, I'd do my best to talk him out of it!"

Zemeckis, whose resume includes "Forrest Gump," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Romancing The Stone," "Contact," "What Lies Beneath", and "Cast Away," has never re-edited his films for home video, Gale told bttf.com.

"He releases the movie to theatres that he wants audiences to see, and he doesn't change them later. The theatrical release of a Zemeckis film IS the director's cut."

Gale said the "Back To The Future" DVDs are being prepared from the original negative, and are being mastered in high-definition. Separate letterbox and standard versions of the film are being readied.

The first film's DVD conversion is near completion. Gale said he hopes to begin work on the sequels next week.

"I will tell you that the movie looks great --- certainly watching it in high-def is going to ruin TV-watching for me forever. The image is sharp, the colours are rich, and I know all the fans will be delighted with the quality," Gale told bttf.com.

The site estimated that the discs will be in stores during the third or fourth quarter of 2002. (More on Bob Gale)  

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

You Region 1 Back to the Future fans will be happy to learn that the eventual U.S. DVD release (according to retailers tentatively set for 12/17, but it now looks like Universal may be pushing to get it out a month earlier) will probably include more than the international version. We received this report from Bits reader Will last night:

"The Back to the Future screening at USC today was informative and fun. We screened a brand new 35mm print that was struck from new elements for the Hi-Def video transfer to DVD. Representatives from Universal said the DVDs are scheduled for a Thanksgiving release in the States. Also, for the very first time, Zemeckis openly discussed why Eric Stoltz was dropped from the film and recast--hopefully, this bit will make it onto the DVD. And while the Q&A session was promoted primarily as a venue for the DVD commentary tracks, they also videotaped the entire conversation and said that some of it may appear on the DVD as such. One more interesting tidbit that seemed rather hush-hush: writer/producer Bob Gale, who was quite articulate and humorous, said that the primary reason why the trilogy had not been released on DVD until now was due to studio politics. Apparently, when DVDs were first produced, Universal was one of the studios that decided to hold off on releasing popular titles until they knew if the market was going to be profitable. As a result, they opted to license some of their films to be released by Columbia. When Columbia released Jaws overseas and it became a huge seller, Universal then decided to wait until their contract with Columbia expired so that they could release their own movies and reap the profits. Bob Gale specifically said that the contract expires on June 30th of this year! I doubt this will be included on the DVD."

Gevonden op The digital bits.

MvrGr.
Frank

[J.A.F._Doorhof]

The Back to the Future website recently talked to producer Bob Gale about the deleted scenes that will be included on the DVD set: "Yes, we've found almost all of the deleted scenes for all the movies. There are still some things from Part 1 that haven't been found, but so far, we've got Lorraine cheating [on a test when Marty & Doc visit the 1955 high school], the long version of the "Darth Vader" scene, George gets locked in the phone booth [at the dance before he saves Lorraine from Biff], and the tail end of the scene on the town square when Doc talks to the cop. And "Doc's belongings" which was in the "Secrets" tape. "Part 2 has an added bit in the future McFly townhouse, and Marty meets Dave in 1985-A, plus the stuff that was in the "Secrets" tape [Biff erasing from existence in 2015, and Marty seeing the burned remains of the high school in 1985-A]. Part 3 had only one deleted scene, which was Buford killing Marshal Strickland, and that we've found as well."