the godfather coda colon

Francis Ford Coppola's 'Godfather III' gets new director's cut and title

The Godfather: Part III, the third and final chapter in Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo‘s mob saga, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. While a box office hit, the film is generally regarded as a disappointment compared to the near perfection of 1972’s The Godfather and 1974’s The Godfather: Part II. Never fully happy with the version released in 1990, Coppola has taken another whack at the film and a new director’s cut, now titled Mario Puzo’s THE GODFATHER, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone — you can just call it “Coda Colon” for short — will be released on Blu-ray and digital on December 8, just a few weeks shy of the film’s actual 30th anniversary.

Says Coppola in a statement, “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. 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.”

If you’re wondering about the original film’s most controversial element — having Sofia Coppola (who has not really acted since) play Michael Corleone’s daughter after Wynona Ryder backed out of the film — well…the kid stays in the picture. You can check out DVD art and the original The Godfather: Part III trailer below.

Meanwhile, director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam) is making Francis And The Godfather, a film about the notoriously fraught production of the first Godfather film, with Oscar Isaac playing Coppola and Jake Gyllenhaal playing colorful producer and former Paramount head Robert Evans. “Out of the madness of production, and against all odds, a classic film happened,” Levinson told Deadline, while Coppola himself said, “Any movie that Barry Levinson makes about anything, will be interesting and worthwhile!”

the godfather coda