The Stepford Wives (2004)

[MifuneFan]

Paramount will be releasing The Stepford Wives (2004) on June 1st.

Source

[dressedtokill]

For a moment I thought they were releasing the original and was all excited. This one isn't as bad as they make it out to be but suffers in comparison to the original.

[buck135]

Originally Posted by dressedtokill

For a moment I thought they were releasing the original and was all excited. This one isn't as bad as they make it out to be but suffers in comparison.

This! I got really excited until I saw 2004. Gut punch.

[drush9999]

I thought it was the original as well

[OneWayFilms]

I never saw the original and thought the remake with Nichole Kidman and Bette Midler must have been a loosely based spoof of the original. It was all fine up to the ending and then it just got sillier and sillier. Just about cross the line of silliness for me.

[donidarko]

Damn, was hoping this was the original.....

[Zillamon51]

Yep, got excited for a moment there.

[Matt89]

LOL the collective disappointment in this thread.

I also thought it was the original for a second.

~Matt

[that1guystudios]

Love this one. I know a lot of people find it terrible, but I enjoyed it.

[agenda]

Goddamned! I thought this would be the original. Remake is absolutely worthless in every way possible.

[James Luckard]

Yep, I wasn't crazy, the original is owned by Bristol-Myers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._International

[scififan73]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Yep, I wasn't crazy, the original is owned by Bristol-Myers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._International

Jeez, guess that means that Dawn of the Dead held up by Rubenstein or the Abyss by Cameron are child' s play in comparison in terms of eventually being released in North America ?

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Yep, I wasn't crazy, the original is owned by Bristol-Myers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._International

I'm confused as to how this movie seems written off in terms of availability, but some others on this list have blu-ray releases in this country. I figured it was a situation like that dude with Invaders from Mars '53 or that lady with It Conquered the World where none of their stuff is getting released unless they die. :P

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

I'm confused as to how this movie seems written off in terms of availability, but some others on this list have blu-ray releases in this country. I figured it was a situation like that dude with Invaders from Mars '53 or that lady with It Conquered the World where none of their stuff is getting released unless they die. :P

I think it might be that some of the other films are co-productions that Bristol-Myers doesn't own 100%, as a result.

Sleuth is in the same boat as The Stepford Wives. Locked in a vault somewhere, along with various pharmaceutical patents, presumably.

[James Luckard]

It would be AMAZING if they could include the massive amount of deleted material, they apparently shot this film multiple times over, basically. It was a much darker horror comedy originally, there were bits of this in the early trailers and there was a lot of media coverage at the time, the film was in and out of reshoots for a couple of years.

We'll never get that, but it'd be nice.

I think Paramount lost the rights to the original, it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, I think it's owned by some random company like a pharmaceutical company or something, they inherited it along with a couple of other films when they bought some other, much larger company.

[disco1979]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It would be AMAZING if they could include the massive amount of deleted material, they apparently shot this film multiple times over, basically. It was a much darker horror comedy originally, there were bits of this in the early trailers and there was a lot of media coverage at the time, the film was in and out of reshoots for a couple of years.

We'll never get that, but it'd be nice.

I think Paramount lost the rights to the original, it doesn't seem to be available anywhere, I think it's owned by some random company like a pharmaceutical company or something, they inherited it along with a couple of other films when they bought some other, much larger company.

Why does this seem in keeping with the creepiness of the original film? Poor Joanna - still trapped.

I agree with you about the 2004 version. What we got seemed like a movie that had been passed through several committees. Even just to have workprints or deleted footage would be great.

[emmet otter]

Amazing news recently, Magdalena, Sphinx and The Stepford Wives! AMAZING!!!.......wait......this is not the........pffft damn.....not the 75' original.......*leaves thread!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by disco1979

Why does this seem in keeping with the creepiness of the original film? Poor Joanna - still trapped.

I agree with you about the 2004 version. What we got seemed like a movie that had been passed through several committees. Even just to have workprints or deleted footage would be great.

Yep, it was VERY clear the studio mandated a reshot happy ending and ordered all the darkness to be toned down.

In the original teasers is was obvious that

[Show spoiler]the women were actually being murdered and replaced with robots

, like in the original. It was clear in the trailers that Bette Midler was

[Show spoiler]replaced with a robot, because there was a scene where robot-Bette malfunctioned

, and the trailers also had footage from a restaging of the original ending, showing that

[Show spoiler]Nicole was replaced with a robot at the end as well.

Instead, we got a neutered ending where

[Show spoiler]all the women are okay after all and the men learn their lesson.

Sigh.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

Yep, it was VERY clear the studio mandated a reshot happy ending and ordered all the darkness to be toned down.

In the original teasers is was obvious that

[Show spoiler]the women were actually being murdered and replaced with robots

, like in the original. It was clear in the trailers that Bette Midler was

[Show spoiler]replaced with a robot, because there was a scene where robot-Bette malfunctioned

, and the trailers also had footage from a restaging of the original ending, showing that

[Show spoiler]Nicole was replaced with a robot at the end as well.

Instead, we got a neutered ending where

[Show spoiler]all the women are okay after all and the men learn their lesson.

Sigh.

There's a camcorder copy out there of one of the test screenings with the ending where

[Show spoiler]Bette malfunctions

. None of that Larry King shit from the reshoots. I actually had a copy that I snagged off of Limewire (!) the year it came out. Wish I still had it, but it definitely exists.

The released film is a mind-boggling trainwreck & compulsively watchable because of it. I've heard horror stories about the production, too; Midler feuding with Oz (which came to a head when she had to shoot a scene with women in swimsuits), Kidman and Broderick despising each other, Oz losing all control, etc.

[The Mad Kiwi]

Originally Posted by dissention

There's a camcorder copy out there of one of the test screenings with the ending where

[Show spoiler]Bette malfunctions

. None of that Larry King shit from the reshoots. I actually had a copy that I snagged off of Limewire (!) the year it came out. Wish I still had it, but it definitely exists.

The released film is a mind-boggling trainwreck & compulsively watchable because of it. I've heard horror stories about the production, too; Midler feuding with Oz (which came to a head when she had to shoot a scene with women in swimsuits), Kidman and Broderick despising each other, Oz losing all control, etc.

Oh my goodness, I had found that version, too, back in the day and even saved the file to a CD-RW, but when I moved, I lost the CD. I've been kicking myself ever since. I remember the movie made more sense in that version for the reasons mentioned above, and it had a nice dark edge to the comedy that was kind of reminiscent of Frank Oz's Little Shop of Horrors.

As flawed as the theatrical cut is, though, I have to confess I still really like it and am happy to finally own it on Blu. But, man, wouldn't it be something if they gave us Frank Oz's director's cut? Or at least a healthier helping of deleted scenes than what the DVD had.