The Wicker Man: The Final Cut will be screening in select theaters in the US over the next couple of months and Rialto Pictures sent over the official US poster.
“Butchered by its doomed UK distributor to fit on double bills, with its original camera negative apparently lost, THE WICKER MAN has gathered a devoted fan base over the past four decades, with the complete version their Holy Grail. Some missing scenes were recovered from an obsolete one-inch broadcast tape, but over the years there were rumors of complete 35mm prints floating around.
Earlier this year, the search intensified when worldwide rights holder Studiocanal initiated a Facebook campaign to recover the missing 35mm material, resulting in the discovery of a 92-minute 35 mm release print at the Harvard Film Archive. This print was scanned and sent to London, where it was recently inspected by director Robin Hardy, who confirmed that it was the same cut he had put together for its American distributor in 1979. This culminated in a digital restoration of the complete U.S. theatrical version, which director Hardy recently anointed as ‘the final cut.’”
The Wicker Man: The Final Cut will be released in UK theaters on September 27 with a UK Blu-ray and DVD release planned for October 14th. The Wicker Man Blu-ray will be a three disc set, according to Blu-ray.com, with the first disc including ”The Final Cut” (HD), the UK theatrical Cut (HD) & the Director’s Cut (HD but with seamless branching to extra scenes in SD only) & audio commentary for Director’s Cut. The second disc is said to include supplemental features, but they have not yet been detailed. Disc 3 will contain the movie soundtrack.
Rialto Pictures is handling the US release and announced the following dates:
- September 27 – October 3 NEW YORK, NY IFC Center
- October 25 – 31 CHICAGO, IL Music Box Theatre
- October 28 – 31 PITTSBURGH, PA Pittsburgh Filmmakers at Regent Square
- October 31 HUNTINGTON, NY Cinema Arts Centre
- November 1 – 7 LOS ANGELES, CA Landmark Theatres – Nuart
- November 8 – 14 PHILADELPHIA, PA Landmark Theatres – Ritz at the Bourse
- November 22 – 24 SILVER SPRING, MD AFI Silver Theatre
