M: Finally, the truth : New Line did recut the movie.

[BenMech]

Well, no matter what anyone says, the matter remains. They screwed it up EPICKLY.

I apologize to Chris Weitz for all my deragotry (is that the word?) comments about his incompetence. Redirected at NewLine. Thank you.

right word. Try a spell checker though. Derogatory.And there's no k in Epically.

And yes, I remember how much the folks here slagged Chris Weitz for NewLine's stupidity. I told em to redirect their energies.

[sfsraffie]

The only Barnes and Noble in my city is way across town, and not somewhere I can easily get to. Will someone please look for the quote, and photograph it if it exists?

[tato]

chris weitz is so guilty as new line, there is no excuse for this, is he a child?what is he?he didnt know at the time what was going on, he, with new line, decided to change the movie, he agreed; why he just left it?its very easy now put all the blame into new line and walk off, come on. he is a bad direector, look at new moon, again, terrible movie!

[sfsraffie]

Okay, I've finally found an article that cites (without a link) the Empire quote:

"Unfortunately, that version really can't be finished because it would cost somewhere between $15million and $17million just to complete the special effects."

And now Variety is saying New Line cut about thirty minutes from the movie. Now, Weitz has said that a full, completed cut could run two and a half hours, so by my count there's twenty minutes unaccounted for here. I guess that it's those twenty minutes that could eat the $15-17m, given that the ending seems to have been pretty much finished. Incidentally, I doubt that the ending would take more than twenty minutes itself, so maybe New Line had pretty much finished another ten minutes or so of scenes they then cut, thus arriving at Variety's thirty minutes figure?

I still don't see how the minimum of twenty minutes of presumably dialogue-heavy scenes could possibly cost more than $10m to finish. Maybe Weitz was talking in theatrical terms, and a blu-ray completion could run far less.

In any case, the badmouthing continues, and even with the bajillions New Moon is making Weitz, a director's cut seems further off than ever.

[Philharmonic]

chris weitz is so guilty as new line, there is no excuse for this, is he a child?what is he?he didnt know at the time what was going on, he, with new line, decided to change the movie, he agreed; why he just left it?its very easy now put all the blame into new line and walk off, come on. he is a bad direector, look at new moon, again, terrible movie!

yes, he would have to agree to things, but the thing was afterwards, new line did a recut WITHOUT consulting him (as far as i know). it wasnt a good idea taking out the end or mixing up the order but still, new line is at fault. there was no blood in the bear fight for example, but i remember someone saying they saw some (and not in small quantitys) in one trailer. wheras we look at lord of the rings, the first one. aragorn lops the head off an orc, blood actually comes out like a supercharged fountain (balin's tomb section). which means they were either trying to make it child friendly (and in parts christianity-friendly, and further failing on a legendary scale) or they didnt know what colour a polar bear's blood was. i doubt its the last one because its a parallel universe. anthing could happen. for all we know lyra's earth could have imploded like that planet in star trek by now.

so tato, lay off weitz. i know he's directing the suckiest film saga in the world at the moment (twilight *spit*) but still.

[Aletheia Dolorosa]

Just to let you know, all the discussion about Energy's re-cut ending has been split and moved to a new topic. If you want to discuss it, post there. Energy will be posting the re-cut ending to download exclusively on BridgeToTheStars.