Extended Edition discussion thread

[hasdi]

I want an extended cut of the movie, but I want to first give my take on the MTV interview with M.Night Shyamalan:

I asked him what we're likely to see on the DVD release of the film — and whether we'll eventually get a "director's cut" of "The Last Airbender."
"All my movies are the director's cut, so that's it," he laughed. "You get to watch it in the movie theaters."

Some readers interpret this as he does not want an extended cut, as the movie is "intended" to have a running time of 103 minutes. I disagree with this, as I consider the director's cut and the allocated running time as two different things. In the case of Blade Runner, both the 1982 "studio-imposed" theatrical cut and the 1992 director's cut were 116 minutes long. For the Lord of The Rings film series, the director Peter Jackson said that the theatrical cuts are his preferred cuts even though he made available the extended editions. Paramount may have given M.Night the final cut privilege, but he may still be constrained with the running time.

Does M.Night want the movie to be longer than 103 minutes? I think the answer is YES!

From the NY Magazine Inteview with M.Night Shyamalan:

Airbender's running time is only 104 minutes, which isn't very long considering that it's an adaptation of the twenty-episode first season of the cartoon. Was it hard to pack everything in there?

I'm dying to make a two-hour movie, I just haven’t earned it yet. I’m really tough in cutting and I have a style that creates a certain pace, and a way of writing where I try to get nuances in one scene that help other scenes; it creates a very similar pacing in every movie. Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and I believe The Village were all the exact same length. So it’s very bizarre. I guess also when I’m constructing the story in the script form, it must be that there’s just an inherent kind of "I need to be at this place in the story" driving me. So maybe that’s where it’s coming from.

Another supporting quote is from the IO9 Interview with M.Night Shyamalan:

A lot of people look at the trailer and they assume the film is the entire first season. But it can't possibly be because there wouldn't be enough time for everything. There's a lot of really fun, smaller moments like King Bumi and things of that nature. What was cut?

The first outline I made of the movie I bought Mike and Bryan to my house and said, "I have an outline of the movie, what do you think?" And they said, "This is like 10 hours long. You have to cut stuff." And I thought, "I can't. I love everything."

If M.Night wanted a longer running time, who told him to cut it short? Why would Paramount tell him to do that? I have a few theories, but that may be a discussion for another time... or a different thread.

EDIT-1: Added a reference to the Lord of the Rings.

[Mooseboy018]

If M.Night wanted a longer running time, who told him to cut it short? Why would Paramount tell him to do that?

Because they saw how bad it was, and the test screenings didn't turn out so well. So they probably made him cut out as much as possible, so they could fit more screenings in to squeeze out as much money as possible.

[negatives]

I read somewhere that Paramount aimed the movie at kids, and that kids have a short attention span. Basically, if a scene drags on for too long, the kids get restless.

I dunno about that lol~ but from the list Mooseboy's giving us, adding those scenes would've made the beginning a lot better. It wouldn't have been so rushed.

[Maiybe]

Hey, I'm a kid! Us kids also think it's rushed and asummed it was aimed at little kids (i.e. third grade and below) so even the targetted audience think it was rushed.

[Flying Camaro]

Hey, I just found out that M. Night is going to attend the New York Comic Con this Friday.

I can't go. It's too far for me...But this could be our first chance (hopefully not our last) to get our voices through to Shyamalan.

We know that the November DVD/BluRay is going to show less than half of the deleted content in the "Deleted Scenes" section, so when Shyamalan is seen in New York, you can tell him we want a release of the entire 2 hour 5 minute presentation.

Find out which of us are attending, and tell people who don't know yet. Maybe you can use YouTube to tell as many TLA fans as possible.

M. Night will probably deny our beliefs about the existence of the Extended Edition, OR he'll make up reasons for why he doesn't want to release it...either way, you should let him know that if he doesn't release the Extended Edition, then he's the one who's losing no matter what excuse he makes.

[TheAusMan14]

Hey, I just found out that M. Night is going to attend the New York Comic Con this Friday.

I can't go. It's too far for me...But this could be our first chance (hopefully not our last) to get our voices through to Shyamalan.

Find out which of us are attending, and tell people who don't know yet. Maybe you can use YouTube to tell as many TLA fans as possible...We know that the November DVD/BluRay is going to show less than half of the deleted content in the "Deleted Scenes" section, so when Shyamalan is seen in New York, you can tell him we want a release of the entire 2 hour 5 minute presentation.

M. Night will problably deny our beliefs about the existence of the Extended Edition, OR he'll make up reasons for why he doesn't want to release it...either way, you should let him know that if he doesn't release the Extended Edition, then he's the one who's losing no matter what excuse he makes.

NYCC sounds like an annoucement day...?

[Crystal<3]

Hey, I just found out that M. Night is going to attend the New York Comic Con this Friday.

.

NYCC sounds like an annoucement day...?

thats what I was thinking! maybe we'll get good news? *fingers crossed*

[TheAusMan14]

Hey, I just found out that M. Night is going to attend the New York Comic Con this Friday.

.

NYCC sounds like an annoucement day...?

thats what I was thinking! maybe we'll get good news? *fingers crossed*

Then again we did think his premiere of Devil would be something of a night for TLA... but this seems like more of an ocassion to announce something big. -fingers crossed along side Crystal-

[Mooseboy018]

thats what I was thinking! maybe we'll get good news? *fingers crossed*

Maybe he's getting fired!

*fingers crossed*

[hasdi]

Hey, I just found out that M. Night is going to attend the New York Comic Con this Friday.

NYCC sounds like an annoucement day...?

thats what I was thinking! maybe we'll get good news? *fingers crossed*

Relax guys... this was announced back in September 21st on MTV splashpage:

"MTV Presents 'Unbreakable: Ten Years Later' With M. Night Shyamalan" will be held Sunday, October 10, at 12:45 PM in the IGN Theater.

M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Signs," "The Village," "The Last Airbender"), one of the most successful filmmakers of our time, joins MTV News' Josh Horowitz for an anniversary retrospective of the groundbreaking comic book movie. Don't miss this exclusive one-time event as the director takes fans inside the fan-favorite film with never-before-heard stories and special surprises.

If we DO get a Q&A slot for The Last Airbender, PLEASE DO NOT ASK HIM WHEN IT WILL BE GREENLIT. Rick Marshall of MTV already asked M.Night - he does not know. It is like asking "Are we there yet?! Are we there yet?!!" If Paramount execs greenlit it, the fans will probably find out earlier than he will over Twitter. In fact, if anybody ask that question, take the mike from the guy and beat the CRAP OUT OF HIM!!! Save the Q&A slot for the more important questions like how soon can we expect an extended cut of the movie.