Theatrical
The world premiere for The Godfather took place at Loews's State Theatre in New York City on Tuesday, March 14, 1972, almost three months after the planned release date of Christmas Day in 1971,[162][163][8] with profits from the premiere donated to The Boys Club of New York.[164] Before the film premiered, the film had already made $15 million from advance rentals from over 400 theaters.[42] The following day,[36] the film opened in five theaters in New York (Loew's State I and II, Orpheum, Cine and Tower East).[165][23][8] Next was the Imperial Theatre in Toronto[162] on March 17[166] and then Los Angeles at two theaters on March 22.[167] The Godfather was released on March 24, 1972, throughout the rest of the United States[165][8] reaching 316 theaters five days later.[168]
Home media
The television rights were sold for a record $10 million to NBC for one showing over two nights.[169] The theatrical version of The Godfather debuted on American network television on NBC with only minor edits.[170] The first half of the film aired on Saturday, November 16, 1974, and the second half two days later.[171] The television airings attracted a large audience with an average Nielsen rating of 38.2 and audience share of 59% making it the eighth most-watched film on television, with the broadcast of the second half getting the third-best rating for a film on TV behind Airport and Love Story with a rating of 39.4 and 57% share.[171] The broadcast helped generate anticipation for the upcoming sequel.[170] The next year, Coppola created The Godfather Saga expressly for American television in a release that combined The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with unused footage from those two films in a chronological telling that toned down the violent, sexual, and profane material for its NBC debut on November 18, 1977.[172] In 1981, Paramount released the Godfather Epic boxed set, which also told the story of the first two films in chronological order, again with additional scenes, but not redacted for broadcast sensibilities.[172] The Godfather Trilogy was released in 1992, in which the films are fundamentally in chronological order.[173]
The Godfather Family: A Look Inside was a 73-minute documentary released in 1991.[174] Directed by Jeff Warner, the film featured some behind the scenes content from all three films, interviews with the actors, and screen tests.[174] The Godfather DVD Collection was released on October 9, 2001, in a package that contained all three films—each with a commentary track by Coppola—and a bonus disc containing The Godfather Family: A Look Inside.[175] The DVD also held a Corleone family tree, a "Godfather" timeline, and footage of the Academy Award acceptance speeches.[175]
The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration
During the film's original theatrical release, the original negatives were worn down due to the reel being printed so much to meet demand.[176][177] In addition, the duplicate negative was lost in Paramount archives.[177] In 2006 Coppola contacted Steven Spielberg—whose studio DreamWorks had recently been bought out by Paramount—about restoring The Godfather.[176][177] Robert A. Harris was hired to oversee the restoration of The Godfather and its two sequels, with the film's cinematographer Willis participating in the restoration.[178][179] Work began in November 2006 by repairing the negatives so they could go through a digital scanner to produce high-resolution 4K files. If a negative were damaged and discolored, work was done digitally to restore it to its original look.[176][177] After a year and a half of working on the restoration, the project was complete.[177] Paramount called the finished product The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration and released it to the public on September 23, 2008, on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc.[178][179] Dave Kehr of The New York Times believed the restoration brought back the "golden glow of their original theatrical screenings".[178] As a whole, the restoration of the film was well received by critics and Coppola.[176][177][178][179][180] The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration contains several new special features that play in high definition, (including additional scenes, behind the scenes footage, etc.).[180]
Paramount Pictures restored and remastered The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (a re-edited cut of the third film) for a limited theatrical run and home media release on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Godfather. The disc editions were released on March 22, 2022.[181]
