Ridley Scott’s Director’s Cut of Napoleon Finally Gets an Update

The long-promised director’s cut of Ridley Scott‘s historical epic Napoleon has apparently been confirmed. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French emperor, the film was released in November 2023 to a mixed critical reception. The film sits at an underwhelming 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score that’s just slightly better at 59%. Despite being projected to break Scott’s record for an opening weekend, the film earned around $221 million from its entire theatrical run, set against an estimated budget of $200 million.

Ridley Scott previously teased the four-hour-long director’s cut in late 2023. There’s been no other update on the director’s cut… until now, as a new MPA document, shared by FilmRatings.com, suggests that the director’s cut is officially in the works. The Napoleon director’s cut has received an R rating for “strong violence, grisly images, sexual content, some nudity and language.” This marks little change from the theatrical cut of the film, with the exception of nudity, which was left out of the version shown in theaters.

Napoleon

2/5

Release Date

November 22, 2023

Runtime

158 Minutes

The rating confirmation doesn’t give any indication of a release date. More importantly, the director’s cut’s alleged four-hour runtime still hasn’t officially been confirmed. The last update Scott gave on the director’s cut was in October 2023. Speaking to Total Film, the director said he’s trimmed the new version down and that the director’s cut will be released directly to streaming, on Apple TV+:

“I’m working on it. It was four [hours] 10 [minutes] this morning. And so what will happen is, we’ll screen [the theatrical cut] first with Sony, and then it has its run, and then the perfect thing is that [the director’s cut] goes to streaming, and we have four hours 10 minutes.”

Ridley Scott Returns to Ancient Rome in Gladiator II

While some fans are annoyed about the delays to the Napoleon director’s cut, the wait is understandable considering that Scott is currently hard at work on the long-awaited Gladiator II. The first trailer was recently released and showcases Paul Mescal’s Lucius teaming up with Macrinus (Denzel Washington) before facing off against General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) in the Colosseum.

While many fans were impressed by the new trailer, some were disappointed by the choice of music. Instead of featuring Hans Zimmer’s iconic score from the first movie, the trailer for Gladiator II features Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “No Church in the Wild.” One fan was so upset that they took it upon themselves to re-edit the trailer without the hip-hop soundtrack.

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Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2 Can’t Afford to Make the Same Mistakes as Napoleon

With a hefty budget and top-notch actors, Gladiator 2 needs to perform substantially better than Ridley Scott’s most recent film.

The trailer also showcases Paul Mescal’s bulked-up physique for the new movie. While Mescal is proud of the work he’s put in to training for the role, he wants to remind viewers that his physique isn’t easily attainable, and that the actor had extensive support. Discussing male body image with Capital FM, Mescal said:

“Exactly that point. I had the best trainer in the world. I had a studio and a production supporting me in all of this. And you want to provide a character and a template that allows people’s imaginations to be activated.”