Not many details yet - i.e. no word if those rumors that this edition will include Yimou's original 20 minute longer cut - but the North American DVD release of Hero has been announced for November 30th. I'll keep my eyes open for specs ...
*** UPDATE ***
Hey, look! Specs! And they aint so hot.
Technical specifications:
- 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer
- Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
- English dub Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Supplemental Features:
- Making-of Featurette of "Hero"
- Interview with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino on "Hero"
- "Hero" Theatrical Trailer
No DTS, and word is it's the theatrical release rather than the long version. I'll be sticking with my pretty Korean edition, I think.
*** Another Update ***
More specs. According to DVD Answers this will include a DTS track, as well as an English language dub - I knew they couldn't resist - the Hero Defined documentary, and some storyboards. Hero Defined is the half hour english documentary I mentioned above, and it's pretty good. A solid overview of the different stages and aspects of production, as told by Zhang Yimou and the film's stars.
Does the Korean edition have the longer cut of "Hero" or is it just the China extended version?
And the making of featurettes with QT can be seen online via moviefone, although I hope a longer verison will be on the DVD ... but you never know with Miramax.
http://movies.channel.aol.com/franchise/exclusives/hero.adp
The only extended edition is the Chinese DVD that Face released, which is stricken with poor video quality and a big ol' logo that pops up in the top left corener every five minutes.
The Korean edition has two discs of special features - including a 25 minute english language documentary and interviews with Donnie Yen and Maggie Cheung in english, which means it has more english language features than the Miramax edition does - and has the original opening and closing text scroll up in English, so you get the proper intro to the film in the english language rather than Miramax's revamped version.
Have you seen the extended edition? Does it improve significantly on the 90 minute version? I assume so, but I haven't heard from anyone that's actually seen it.
I have seen the 108 minute extended version and in my opinion I like the original 98 minute cut better. There's only a few new scenes added here and there. The only completely new scene is after Broken Sword tries to convince Nameless not to kill the King. After he writes "All Under Heaven (Our Land in the U.S. version)" Moon tries to kill herself to show her dedication to the plan. Nameless then stops her of committing suicide telling her that a young girl like her should not take her own life.
The 98 minute flows better and feels much tighter in pace.