Something's coming to eat the world whole!

Well, it looks like the folks at WB are trying to be sneaky. In the latest update of MPAA ratings for upcoming films, there's a listing for "Little Shop of Horrors: The Intended Cut." Director Frank Oz mentioned the forthcoming release last November, citing a Halloween 2012 2-disc DVD/Blu-Ray release, but there was no further evidence to support his claim at the time. But with this latest announcement, it appears we're finally on the verge of getting an official release of the 1986 cult classic with the original unhappy ending intact! For those who don't know the story...

"Little Shop of Horrors" began its life as a corny 1960 Roger Corman b-movie which was notorious for its short shooting schedule of two days (and some change). In 1982, the film was adapted into a wildly successful off-Broadway musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (the duo who went on to write music for Disney's "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin") and their musical was ultimately translated into the 1986 film. Initial test audiences loved the 1986 movie... up until the point when this Greek tragedy's hero and heroine were devoured by the carnivorous plant. As a result, this footage (along with the subsequent elaborate $5 million sequence featuring the world being overrun with Audrey II's offspring) was scrapped and replaced with a new, upbeat happy ending.

Full page newspaper ad

Studio-imposed alterations have always happened, though it wasn't common public knowledge back in the days before DVD. However, "Little Shop of Horrors" was a high profile film that was anticipated to do big business during its Christmas 1986 release (it under-performed theatrically but quickly became a smash hit and cash cow on home video). The press ran with the story of the original ending in countless TV and magazine articles (and it was also discussed in The Little Shop of Horrors Book), photos of the now-missing sequences adorned trading cards, paperback novels and other tie-in merchandise and, as the years passed, various cast and crew members voiced their displeasure with the reshoot ending. All of this exposure left fans dying to see the ending that should have been...

Special Edition DVD Cover

In 1998, a few fans finally got that chance when "Little Shop" was released as a special edition DVD. One of the bonus features included was a 23 minute rough black-and-white copy of the original ending duped from director Frank Oz's VHS workprint. Producer David Geffen knew nothing about this release until it hit store shelves and he immediately hit the roof. "They put out a black-and-white, unscored, undubbed video copy of the original ending that looked like shit," Geffen complained to Entertainment Weekly. The result was the world's first collector's-item-DVD; one week after it hit shelves the special edition disc was recalled. When eBay went mainstream later that year, resale prices lingered just under $100 and have increased as the years have passed to as much as $300. Ouch!

Why, this thing could be bigger than hula-hoops!

Geffen rationalized the DVD recall by declaring he had color footage of the original ending and intended to see the film re-released as originally envisioned-- much like a similar move that had paid off for WB in 1993 with the lauded director's cut of "Blade Runner" (gotta remember that DVDs were still in their infancy in 1998... though we'd soon be inundated with unrated editions and director's cuts galore). It was speculated that when the DVD was reissued, it would include the color footage, but instead they essentially just removed the alternate ending and re-released the disc without the "special edition" tag. Then years passed and nothing seemed to happen.

In 2006 Oz's workprint ending surfaced on You Tube, offering the meek who couldn't afford to shell out $100+ for the recalled DVD the opportunity to finally see this infamous lost footage. In 2007 an announcement was made that the studio was working on an HD restoration complete with the original ending. When it failed to happen, rumors began to spread that the color footage of the original ending had been destroyed in a studio fire. I've never been able to pinpoint exactly where this rumor began, but it doesn't seem to have been leaked in any official statement (yet many fans took it as fact) and it's particularly irksome since Geffen stated way back in 1998 that he had the color footage. In 2008, a director's cut was cited by Fangoria for a 2009 release, though the disc that was ultimately issued was just a repackaging of the non-special edition DVD in a plastic case (the original releases were packaged in cardboard snap-cases). And that leads us to today.

Topps Trading Card

So what else is going to be included on this forthcoming release? No telling at the moment since WB seems to have been trying to keep it under wraps. There's no question, however, that "Don't Feed the Plants" will be shorter and more polished than in the now widely-seen black-and-white version (which was a really rough early edit). Some additional footage was excised from the film prior to its original release, including numerous verses from the songs "Some Fun Now" and "The Meek Shall Inherit," the latter of which featured a lengthy Rick Moranis solo accompanied by a trippy dream sequence in which he transformed into a plant. Here's hoping that makes it. It's a good bet that there will be an upgraded dupe of the originally released version along with the new version. Would also be nice to have an isolated score on the new cut, the blooper reel without Frank Oz's commentary (it isn't optional on any of the previous DVD releases) as well as the full workprint ending for posterity. And doubtlessly we can expect some sort of new retrospective featurette along with the other extras from the original DVDs. Beyond that I can't speculate (and this entire paragraph is just mere speculation) but it's wonderful to see it's finally happening!

Thanks to Aryeh for the heads-up!