Godfather Coming to Blu-ray

Making next-gen fans an offer they can't refuse, Paramount is boxing up the entire 'Godfather' trilogy and bringing it to Blu-ray this September with newly-restored elements and hours of bonus material. Due on September 23 (day-and-date with a new standard DVD re-issue), 'The Godfather Trilogy Collection' contains all three installments in the epic saga -- 'The Godfather,' 'The Godfather Part II,' and 'The Godfather Part III' -- each painstakingly restored by the team at Zoetrope Studios in what is being dubbed "The Coppola Restoration." Enjoying a frame-by-frame remaster under the auspices of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and restoration supervisor Kim Aubry, the project reportedly took a year to complete and was recovered using freshly-minted source materials.

Tech specs for each film include a BD-50 dual-layer presentation with 1080p video, and first-ever high-res audio tracks in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround. (Optional Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English and French, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish, with 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II' also including the original English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono presentation.)

Extras on each of the three individual film discs in the set include audio commentary with director Francis Ford Coppola.

Also included in 'The Godfather Collection' is a bonus fourth disc with hours of extensive bonus material (much of it presented in full HD video). Among the supplemental content is a suite of five featurettes ("Godfather World," "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't," "...Then the Shooting Stopped," "Emulsional Rescue-Revealing The Godfather," "The Godfather on the Red Carpet"), a quartet of "Short Films on The Godfather" ("The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II," "Cannoli," "Riffing on the Riffing," "Clemenza"), a multi-part "Behind the Scenes" documentary ("The Godfather Family: A Look Inside," "On Location," "Francis Coppola's Notebook," "The Music of the Godfather," "Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting," "Gordon Willis on Cinematography"), additional vignettes on "The Filmmakers" ("Francis Ford Coppola," "Mario Puzo," "Gordon Willis," "Dean Tavoularis," "Nino Rota," "Carmine Coppola"), storyboards, additional scenes, an "Acclaim & Response" marketing and publicity section, a "Crime Organization Chart," two still galleries, and theatrical trailers.

Though Paramount and Zoetrope plan to make the three 'Godfather' films available as standalone DVD releases, the studio has confirmed that at this date, only the 'The Godfather Collection' box set will be made available on Blu-ray. Suggested list price has been set at $119.95