Extended Waterworld DVD to Run 177 Minutes

Now you may be asking yourself, “What? Who wants 177 minutes of ‘Waterworld’? The 136 minutes version is more than enough for me, thank you very much!” Well if you said that, then you’re probably not a fan of the movie. Fortunately for both of us, I am. Yes, I liked “Waterworld”. I don’t care what anyone says, but I thought the Kevin Costner movie had its moments. At least, until they got kind of nuts with all the jet ski stunts and what have you. But for the most part, I dug the film’s world, and liked how they shot the entire thing on water. It was a movie with a pretty good idea, but somewhere along the way, it sort of got corny and kind of cartoonish. Thanks, Dennis Hopper!

Anyways, for fans like myself, Universal Home Entertainment will be releasing a new, extended DVD version of “Waterworld” November 4, 2008. The disk will come with both the theatrical release of the movie (which runs 136 minutes) and an extended version, which will run 177 minutes. As of right now, there is no other details about the disk ala extras, commentaries, etc.

For those who have never heard of the movie, here’s a synopsis from IMDB.com:

In the future, the Earth is engulfed with water when the polar ice caps melts, leaving the lands and civilization beneath the sea. In “Waterworld” drifters sail across the waters of the world on their man-made ships, trading for supplies and salvaging what is left of civilization, communities of survivors lives in towns called “Atolls” and a force of evil pirates “The Smokers” travel across Waterworld in search of a mythical island called “Dryland”. Arriving at a Atoll, a mysterious drifter without a name called The Mariner is sentenced to death when the community discover he is a mutant. When the Atoll is attacked by The Smokers led by their evil leader Deacon, a woman named Helen and her adopted daughter Enola bribes The Mariner to take them to Dryland, believing The Mariner has been there. But the Mariner, Helen and Enola are pursued by Deacon and the Smokers, when The Mariner learns the tattoo on Enola’s back is in reality a map that will lead them to Dryland…

One presumes that if Universal is going through the trouble of releasing an extended DVD, and is making a big marketing push for it, they would have at least asked the stars and crew to come back for feature commentaries, right? Then again, since the movie was pretty much savaged by critics and moviegoers when it was released in 1995, maybe they want to stay as far away from it as possible. Too bad, because there are a few of us out here who actually liked the movie — or at least, appreciated what it was trying to do.