Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning western is returning to the big screen in a way audiences have never seen before. The Locarno Film Festival has announced that it will host the world premiere of a newly restored 4K version of Dances With Wolves featuring a nearly four-hour extended cut.
The screening will take place on August 7 in the Swiss festival’s iconic Piazza Grande.
Costner’s Original Vision
The restoration was completed by Zurich-based laboratory Cinegrell in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival through its Locarno Heritage project and international sales agent K5 International. According to the festival, the new version represents the film as Costner originally intended audiences to experience it.
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves – Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube
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As World of Reel notes, Kevin Costner originally envisioned Dances With Wolves with a four-hour runtime. However, distributor Orion Pictures pressured the first-time director to trim the film to three hours. That version went on to become a major hit with both critics and audiences and arguably sparked a renewed interest in westerns that lasted through much of the 1990s.
It also transformed Costner from one of Hollywood’s biggest stars into an Academy Award-winning director, setting a remarkably high bar for the films that followed.
A Landmark in Film History
“Costner’s western epic, which won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, helped redefine the western at the turn of the 1990s and drew global attention to the historical plight of Indigenous peoples on the American continent,” the festival said in its announcement.
An extended cut and a special 35th anniversary edition have previously been released on home video. However, both versions are shorter than what Costner originally intended.
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves – Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers, YouTube
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The edition screening at Locarno runs close to four hours and incorporates roughly 30 minutes of previously unseen material. While details about the additional scenes have not yet been revealed, the restoration appears to be the most comprehensive presentation of the film to date.
“This restoration offers audiences the chance to rediscover Costner’s expansive popular masterpiece as it was originally intended to be seen by the director himself,” the festival said.
The announcement has also fueled speculation that the restoration could eventually receive a physical 4K Ultra HD release following its festival debut, although no home media plans have been officially announced.
The Shadow of Horizon
The Locarno screening also arrives at an interesting moment in Costner’s career. In early 2023, Deadline reported tensions on the set of Yellowstone, with Costner reportedly seeking fewer shooting days so that he could focus on his own project, Horizon: An American Saga. Taylor Sheridan ultimately wrote Costner’s character off the show.
Kevin Costner in Horizon: An American Saga – Warner Bros., YouTube
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Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1—the first installment of a planned four-part epic—hit theaters in 2024 and received a muted response from both critics and audiences. The future of the series remains uncertain. Against that backdrop, the Locarno Film Festival’s decision to showcase a four-hour cut of Dances With Wolves serves as a reminder that many still regard the film as the crowning achievement of Kevin Costner’s directing career.
Whether the newly restored version eventually reaches theaters or home video remains to be seen. For now, however, audiences attending Locarno will be the first to experience Costner’s expanded vision on the giant screen.
Are you interested in seeing a four-hour extended cut of Dances with Wolves? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
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