Close Encounters Turns Thirty

It’s hard to believe Close Encounters of the Third Kind is already getting a thirtieth anniversary DVD release. It seems like only yesterday the 21st anniversary edition was being released, not nine years ago. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve watched my copy of the DVD, one of my all time favorite movies.

But it is thirty years since the movie first came out; thirty years and three editions: the 1977 original cut, the 1980 re-edit by Spielberg, and finally the 1998 DVD cut – the director’s edition.

Sony is celebrating the anniversary by putting a new edition of the movie out (big surprise) on both DVD and Blu-ray. The new edition will allow you to view which version of the film you want, branching seamlessly into the various edits. I might be wrong about this, but I think this might be the first time you’ve had the option to view the original 1977 cut of the film since the studio asked the director to take viewers inside the ship for the ending, a concession he made in order to fix other elements of the movie.

Other than being able to watch any existing edit of the film, the DVD announcement offers very little else other than a new interview with Spielberg and a storyboard to scene comparison. Extras will include that material as well as a retrospective making-of documentary (probably the one included on the 1998 collector’s edition since it was pretty well assembled), the 1977 special “Watch the Skies” (also included on the collector’s edition) and the original preview/trailer.

Personally I’ll keep my Collector’s Edition, but if you don’t have that, this might be worth checking out. The 30th Anniversary Edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind comes out November 13th.