[Request] Highlander US Theatrical Cut

[Booshman]

This is great, I enjoyed your video outlining the project too. Can I still get you a donation for the project?

[Stamper]

Awesome Williarob, it's a double whammy too, as now the climax will be also available without CGI remade VFX!

[williarob]

I used the 2010 Bluray for my project, because that was the only one I had when I began the working on it. I have since acquired the 30th anniversary disc also, and that is somewhat sharper, and in many ways is closer to the original print colors and has deeper shadows - it was a dark movie, but the 2010 disc seems brightly lit and rather lacking in contrast throughout. If I was to do it again, I might use the newer disc as my main source. On the down side, the 30th disc does seem to have some clipped (or perhaps just almost clipped) highlights, and some of the scenes that are blue on the laserdisc, the 2010 disc, and the print are white here (as shown at the very end of the making of film above), so perhaps a mix of the two sources, or just some color correction on a few shots would be ideal.

I am considering sharing my After Effects project file - I'd need to clean it up and remove a bunch of stuff, like layers that were never used - but in theory at least you would be able to simply drop in either Bluray version and it would instantly convert it to the US TC.

The shots exclusive to the US Theatrical Cut include the Fox Logo (1080p), The Bedsoe scene, the final Quickening, and 2 versions of the Wrestling scene -35mm and the deleted scene from the bluray - I spent a week cleaning that up before I thought to check the Bluray because nobody had mentioned that it could be found on the disc and I figured somebody would have checked! They are all prores and the 35mm scenes are uncropped (and open Matte) 2160p.

If you just want just the US Theatrical scenes, to insert into your own project, send me a PM.

[Chewtobacca]

Amazing work!  The wrestling shots' being on the BD was mentioned in post#53, but that's easily overlooked in all the discussion.  Many thanks for posting the unique shots separately!  They are likely to come in very useful in future.

It occurred to me that it would nice to have an edit of the director's cut that adds the coffee shot and any missing dialog/effects/whatever back in.  I wonder if anyone ever investigated the Charles-V/Philip-II issue; the latter is apparently preserved in Highlander 2, but I've misplaced my copy of that. Moreover, I've yet to find a copy of H1 that has the variant, so the claim that it was the original reading might be misinformation.

[Chewtobacca]

Color timing on Rob's LD is awesome. It's the only release of H1 that I've seen on home video that exhibits that degree of color fidelity. With a few adjustments, it could serve as an exceptional frame of reference.

[williarob]

I just started Rendering v2.0: This time using the 30th anniversary Bluray as the main source. I also patched that black frame, and tinted one of the white scenes blue. There are a bunch more scenes that need more blue, but I couldn't be bothered to get to them all...

[SpaceBlackKnight]

I greatly apologize for the 2 year bump (and nearly forgot all that work Williarob did on the reconstructions with the BDs and a 35mm US print), but I was told the US theatrical cut had been popping up recently on a Canadian channel and VOD provider called HollywoodSuite. The person who saw it said it opens with the 1980s TCF logo (20th Century Disney owns US theatrical, TV, and limited streaming rights, more on that later), so it's probably the same Fox HD master that made the rounds on HBO (which TServo and PDB capped in the past) and possibly Netflix. (To clarify all this convoluted mombo jumbo, streaming providers like Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ are subscription based VOD services that rotate content regularly and act under some TV provisions, whereas digital storefronts like iTunes act as a paid ownership and classify under home video/entertainment regulations. This is why other rights divided movies like The Princess Bride and Weekend at Bernie's stream on Hulu/NF/D+ under 20th Century Disney, while the digital versions to rent/buy are under MGM as the video rights are).

I don't think Netflix US has the US theatrical cut of Highlander up anymore (someone said when NF last had Highlander up, it was the old StudioCanal HD master of the European cut) *that was Netflix UK, which Fox has no connections to. Hulu might have it in the near future, given the 20th Century Disney connection and that they have rights to stream Weekend At Bernie's and Princess Bride there.

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Speaking of Netflix US and Canada (not any other region), has anyone checked to see if the US version popped up there again? I haven't used my account in over a year (nor do I remember one of the many credentials I used on it) thanks to them getting rid of the older/cult stuff and pumping up their controversial Netflix Originals. If it's up on there again, it would give me a reason to start fresh with a new account and see how shite their encoding has become .

[SpaceBlackKnight]

Alrighty then, so a (somewhat) quick update:

The bad news: The source told me the knuckleheads at FuboTV aired a totally different modern movie (something about Highlands from 2015) listed under Highlander 1986. How in the world can they mix up something like that?? So much for his DVR recording! This source also told me they mixed up an airing of the TV version of T2 he was planning to DVR with My Cousin Vinny, so FuboTV should be called ScrewboTV!! Oh well, least he tried!

I did hear of a recording of the US version someone on the OT forums capped from Canadian TV, but he only had a SD capturing setup and (I think) it had commercial breaks.

It's been popping up again, fully uncut, on a Canadian TV channel called Hollywood Suite https://hollywoodsuite.ca/movies/highlander/. I don't have access to this channel, so if anyone in Canada has a good HDMI capping setup, it will be airing next month on July 24 and have two more airings until August.

Otherwise, I will continue to check places like Hulu to see if they put up the US version.

[theanomaloushost]

I've purchased StudioCanal steelbook version of Highlander on blu-ray, and recently ordered a copy of the original VHS version on eBay. Planning on transferring the VHS to computer via Dazzle/Pinnacle (because I currently don't know of or possess a better way of doing it), and having a theatrical copy that way. Never had a laserdisc player (let alone laserdisc copy), though there is a website claiming to sell Highlander (theatrical cut) on DVD using a laserdisc source, but hearing that it's only marginally better (at best) compared to the VHS version, I decided against it, especially after hearing about williarob's restoration project.

I'd like to give that restoration project a look-see, if possible. First-time poster here.