A new ‘potentially good’ cut of The Godfather: Part III to hit theaters in December

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While there’s a strong case for why Paramount Pictures and director Francis Ford Coppola should finally embark on The Godfather: Part IV, an actual sequel will have to wait: First, we’re getting a potentially good version of The Godfather: Part III.

Paramount announced on Thursday that a new edit and restoration of Coppola’s final Godfather film, rechristened Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, will hit theaters this December, with a home video release to follow. The new version of the film “achieves director-screenwriter Coppola and screenwriter [Mario] Puzo’s original vision for the finale, which has been meticulously restored for the finest presentation of the Corleone saga’s last chapter,” Paramount said in a news release. If everyone’s roles are intact, the movie stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy García, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, and a young Sofia Coppola.

“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,” Coppola said in a statement. “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.”

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