New Versus Movies Announced

Director Ryuhei Kitamura has announced plans to produce two new films in the Versus series- Versus Alternate Cut and Versus 2.

This summer, Kitamura plans to re-assemble the cast of Versus to shoot new footage to create an alternate version of Versus that will feature a new beginning and ending, a new climatic fight, more zombie gunfight sequences, a new soundtrack, and edit out some of the very few “talky parts.” Versus Alternate Cut is not a “director’s cut” because the original version of Versus is exactly the way the director prefers it to be. Alternate Cut is more of a pet project.

Versus 2 will tentatively be complete in 2004. Apparently Kitamura has to schedule Versus 2 around his work on the GameCube game Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, his theatrical film of the Japanese supernatural TV drama Sky High (based on manga by Tsutomu Takahashi), and his as yet undetermined first American film for Miramax.

Media Blasters will release Versus on American DVD on July 29th in three different versions: a bare-bones bilingual edition, a “Director’s Cut” edition that will include trailers and audio commentary, and a double disc special edition that will include all of the material from the Japanese DVD release.

Versus has just been released in Germany on a double disc special edition packed in a metal tin that features extensive supplemental material including Kitamura’s first movie, the 51 minute long Down to Hell, and trailers for Down to Hell and Alive.

Source: Kung Fu Cult Cinema