Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (The Godfather: Part III Director’s Cut) Special Edition Blu-ray

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Just in time for the 30th anniversary of The Godfather: Part III, director/screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola has re-edited the final film in his epic Godfather trilogy. This new version, entitled Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, achieves Coppola and screenwriter Puzo’s original vision for the finale, which has been meticulously restored for the finest presentation of the Corleone saga’s last chapter. Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone will be available exclusively to own on Blu-ray and Digital December 8, 2020 from Paramount Home Entertainment. The film will also debut in select theaters on December 4.

“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,” said Coppola. “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.”

Below is a statement from the director about working on the project.

I would guess that it’s difficult for people to quite understand what happens in those few months before a major motion picture is released. This is true for all movies but especially when it is a big costly production and one with much expectation such as what was released almost 30 years ago as The Godfather: Part III. Many diverse collaborators come together (or disagree) because of the extraordinarily large commitment they’ve made either financially or creatively in this one complex effort that is about to be judged. No one is really sure what will happen, but we know that the initial release will most probably determine the success or failure of the work throughout its life, which perhaps was years in the making. In this specific case, the film was going to be released on Christmas Day, which was fast approaching, and so I found myself in the middle of hundreds of decisions as the director, which of course is where I wanted to be.

I had certain misgivings, as one always does, but one certainly was the title of the film. When we wrote it, Mario Puzo and I titled it under the name THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. In musical terms, a coda is sort of like an epilogue, it’s a summing up, and that’s what we intended the movie to be, a Coda, an epilogue and summing up of the two preceding films, almost an illumination of what those two films meant.

I’ve always regretted that the film couldn’t be called that, and this led me to re-approach the entire project, sort of like pulling on a thread poking out of a very complicated sweater that is annoying you and ultimately finding yourself re-weaving a new incarnation of it.

So here, as a result of the opportunity that Paramount Pictures has given me to achieve what Mario and I had intended, is Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, a film which has a different beginning, a different ending which makes the title all the more clear, many scenes repositioned throughout, and in a version which the picture has been given, I think, a new life, and provides an entirely new experience which does in fact act as a Coda to the first two films.

I feel comfortable in saying that I have new pride in this third film and its wonderful cast of actors, and prouder than ever of The Godfather Trilogy.

– Francis Ford Coppola, November 2020

Official Trailer for Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

Leonard Maltin interviews Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Andy Garcia

Special Features

• List of Changes to The Godfather: Part III
• TITLE
  The title is changed from The Godfather: Part III to Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone.
• RUNNING TIME
  There is an approximate 12-minute difference between the two films.
  The running time of The Godfather: Part III is 2:49:56.
  The running time of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is 2:37:43.
• PICTURE CHANGES
  There are 363 picture changes, some shots eliminated, new shots or sound added, most importantly a different beginning, different ending and many scenes repositioned and shortened throughout.
• NEW BEGINNING
  The opening shots of Tahoe estate from The Godfather: Part II were removed. The film now starts with Archbishop negotiation scene, which was moved from middle of film to beginning.
• NEW ENDING
  New ending of film shows Michael in close-up, followed by a new title card which says:
  
  When the Sicilians wish you “Cent'anni”... it means for “long life.”
  
  ...and a Sicilian never forgets.
• Blu-ray Features
• The newly restored and re-edited The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
• An exclusive introduction by Coppola
• Access to a Digital copy of the film

Specifications

• Number of Discs:
  1
• Runtime:
  157 min
• Region:
  A
• Subtitles:
  English SDH, English, French, Spanish
• Audio:
  Dolby 5.1
• Aspect Ratio:
  1080P HD