‘Deadpool 2’ may only have arrived in theaters this past weekend, but it’s never too early to look ahead to the inevitable home video release, is it? Twentieth Century Fox and director David Leitch certainly don’t seem to think so! Speaking to CinemaBlend, Leitch confirmed that he is working on an extended cut of the film (based on an early cut that was assembled and cut down during post-production). As Leitch describes it:
“There’s an extended cut. And I think that they may want to spin that out as a special thing, but right now I’m sort of… we’re taking our time, and it’s going back to the “director cut,” and then sort of collaborating with Ryan [Reynolds], Rhett [Reese], and Paul [Wernick], and making sure we’re all getting all the jokes we want – to have it be fun and our sort of fun collaboration.”
While Leitch’s comments don’t exactly confirm that the extended cut is intended for the film’s Blu-ray release (or for an eventual home video double dip, akin to the Rogue cut of ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’), it’s not unreasonable to assume as much. After all, how often do we find a director assembling a new cut of their movie during opening weekend? Even George Lucas usually takes some time off!
But just how much longer will the extended cut be? As work is still underway, it’s a little early to say for sure, but a good guess would be one informed by the longest cut assembled during production. Leitch describes that cut as follows:
“It was funny, because we shot… it was like an eighty-three day shoot, and it was a lot of material. But I kept telling the studio, and I kept telling Ryan, I’m like, “No, the director’s cut’s going to come in at like 2:12.” And he’s like, “No way!” And I’m like “It is! It’s going to come in at 2:12. I want to make it tight. I want you guys to get a really tight first look at the film. I don’t think it needs to be bloated and I’m not that type of filmmaker.””
By comparison, the finished film has a runtime of 119 minutes, or just shy of two hours (comparable to the original ‘Deadpool’, which clocks in at a 108 minutes). So that’s an extra thirteen or so minutes of footage. This would make it equivalent in length to ‘X-Men: First Class’.
Are you excited to see an extended cut of ‘Deadpool 2’ or do you feel like that might be too much of a good thing? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more ‘Deadpool 2’ news – including more information on the extended cut – as it becomes available.
Directed by David Leitch, ‘Deadpool 2’ will see Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Stafan Kapicic, and Brianna Hildebrand reprise their roles from the original alongside newcomers Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz and Jack Kesy. The film is now playing in theaters.
