Kubricks Original Cut: Fact-Checking the 17-Minute Edit Claim
“Stanley Kubrick released the original cut and then pulled it from cinemas and cut around 17 mins from the film. He was known for destroying versions he never was happy with. Someone somewhere must've kept the reels knowing one day we would want to see it. The version we see is the recut version.”
Summary
Kubrick did premiere a longer cut of *2001: A Space Odyssey* and, responding to audience complaints about pacing, removed roughly 17 minutes before the film’s wide release; the version currently available is the trimmed version. While Kubrick was notorious for destroying unsatisfactory edits, there is no confirmed evidence that the original longer reels have survived.
Sources 59 searched
- 50 Years Ago: 1968 Welcomed 2001 - NASA
But initial responses from audiences and critics after its opening were rather mixed. Audience complaints from the premieres about the slow pacing caused Kubrick to cut 17 minutes before the general release of the film.
- Stanley Kubrick - Wikipedia
Kubrick complained about not having full creative control, insisting on improvising extensively during the production. Kubrick and Douglas were also at odds over the script, with Kubrick angering Douglas when he cut all but two of his lines from the opening 30 minutes.
- The Shining (film) - Wikipedia
This is the same cut and 4K restoration that was screened at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. According to the official press release, the official full-length run-time is 146 minutes.
- Stanley Kubrick and the Missing 24-Minutes Scene | by Pinandito | Medium
After Kubrick died, the studio bought the rights for Eyes Wide Shut and then released it on theater. Well, nobody knows whether it’s an original cut from Kubrick or some edited version by the studio.
- Roger Avary: Warner Bros Changed Kubrick's Original Ending of ‘Eyes Wide Shut' — World of Reel
In the end, maybe Avary knows something ... been around for 25 years, that there was 20 minutes of footage that Kubrick refused to have edited from the film, and was only removed once he died....
- Inspiration — Eyes Wide | Cut
However, what is less well-known is that Kubrick cut an entirely different version of The Shining for it’s international release and he cut far more than one scene. Stanley cut roughly an additional 24 minutes bringing the total difference, ...
- Todd Field Says 'Eyes Wide Shut' Was Only a "First Cut" | No Film School
With 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick trimmed 19 minutes from the film after its premiere, and with The Shining, he cut the original ending (a hospital scene) after the film had already been released to the public.
- Six days after presenting his final cut of "Eyes Wide Shut" to Warner Bros., Stanley Kubrick died of a sudden heart attack. After Kubrick's death, Warner Bros. went back to the editing room and removed what some described as an "extremely jarring" 24 minutes of footage from the movie. The studio reportedly asked Kubrick to remove those 24 minutes before he died, to which the director refused. What the studio removed remains unknown.
The studio reportedly asked Kubrick to remove those 24 minutes before he died, to which the director refused. What the studio removed remains unknown. ... Release the Kubrick cut!
- 17 Minutes of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Lost Footage Found
I wasn't aware that Stanley Kubrick had cut 17 minutes out of the finished cut of 2001: A Space Odyssey that premiered in 1968 but I'm sure curious. It seems the footage was initially axed due to pacing issues and would never be screened again, ...
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