Screencrush spotted the announcement from a pre-order email from Amazon. The window for theatrical and home releases is getting smaller every day, but hoping people pre-order a movie that hasn’t even seen a wide release yet is asking a lot.
It is well known that director Joss Whedon’s original cut for the film clocked in at over three hours, which is crazy-long for a superhero movie, and much longer than the final product. One could assume that a lot was left on the cutting room floor as the production team slimmed down the film for theaters. That isn’t to say that all the cut footage will make its way back in by any means, but there’s a solid chance that the director’s cut will offer a lot more footage that theater audiences won’t get to see.
As for the alternate ending, Marvel’s upcoming movie slate is so full right now that the secondary option likely won’t stray far from the theater release, since balancing all of those plates in the air must be incredibly difficult, and continuity is essential to keep the Marvel universe from spinning out of control. Whedon could have filmed something like the ending of The Avengers, where all the heroes are just sitting around eating shwarma, for instance.
While we’ll have to wait a few months to see the action that didn’t make the final cut, the theatrical release of Avengers: Age of Ultron is playing in plenty of theaters around the world and had a monster opening weekend overseas, raking in more than $200 million. The movie will see a wide release in the U.S. and the rest of the world on May 1.
