Although it represented something of a financial failure for Warner Bros., Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep was arguably one of the more effective of recent Stephen King adaptations. As well as paying homage to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Flanagan was also able to make the most of the best parts of King’s novel. And now, we’re getting Flanagan’s three-hour director’s cut as part of a digital release on January 21st, and a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray, standalone Blu-ray and DVD launch on February 4th.
The theatrical cut of Doctor Sleep was already a hefty 152 minutes, meaning that the new version will have around 30 minutes of added material. Given that Flanagan had to try to incorporate King’s lengthy novel and bulk up connections to Kubrick’s adaptation, it makes sense that a lot more footage was left on the cutting room floor. At the moment, we don’t know what the extra material will involve, although there are certainly a few areas that could be expanded.
Personally, I’m hoping to see a bit more of Ewan McGregor’s Danny Torrance as a young boy after the events of The Shining, as well as Danny’s struggles with alcoholism leading up to his recovery. Furthermore, we could be spending more time with the True Knot, some of whose members didn’t get fleshed out in much detail in the theatrical edit. On release, this extended version will be available for 4K streaming, but, for now, will only be Blu-ray quality as a standalone disc and as part of a packaged set with a 4K Ultra HD version of the theatrical cut.
Although there’ll be a few of the usual behind-the-scenes featurettes on the Doctor Sleep release, details are relatively sparse at the moment as to the full contents of the discs. Either way, we’re looking forward to seeing what Flanagan can do with the extra scenes, which partly makes up for the loss of a reportedly in-development sequel.
Tell us, though, what do you think about an extended cut for Doctor Sleep? As always, let us know in the comments section down below.
