The Godfather Coda Coppola Promises Re Edit Brings New Life To Film

Paramount Pictures released the trailer and a Coppola featurette for the upcoming “Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone,” on Tuesday. The film, which has been billed as screenwriter Mario Puzo and Coppola’s original vision for the finale, will premiere in theaters on Dec. 4 and release on Blu-ray and digital on Dec. 8. “I have re-edited it and given it what really isn’t a new title but rather the original title: ‘Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone,” Coppola said. “In musical term, a coda is sort of like an epilogue, a summing up, and that’s what we intended the movie to be. You’ll see a film which has a different beginning and ending, many scenes throughout have been repositioned, and the picture has been given, I think, a new life.”

The film centers on Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) efforts to divest his family from the criminal empire he took over and managed in the first two “Godfather” films. Though the first two installments in the trilogy are considered to be among the greatest films in cinema history, critical reception to “Part III” was decidedly mixed. The film stars Pacino, Diane Keaton, Andy Garcia, Franc D’Ambrosio, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, Joe Mantegna, Talia Shire, Eli Wallach, Sofia Coppola, and Raf Vallone. Paramount Pictures stated in September that Coppola and his production company worked for six months to create frame-by-frame restorations of the new cut and the original “Part III” film — a process that involved sifting through 300 cartoons of negative, repairing scratches and stains, as well as enhancing the original 5.1 audio mix. “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,” Coppola said in a September statement. Check out the trailer for “Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone” and Coppola’s featurette below: