Production
The film began life as a miniseries. The producers originally pitched the project to ABC in 1991. ABC initially agreed to back the project, but when the TV movie Son of the Morning Star about George Armstrong Custer received low ratings, ABC withdrew. Subsequently, media mogul and Civil War buff Ted Turner took up the project and filming began, helped considerably when the National Park Service permitted unprecedented access to Gettysburg Battlefield, including Devil's Den and Little Round Top. However, much of the movie was shot at a nearby Adams County farm. Thousands of Civil War reenactors from across the country volunteered to come to Gettysburg to participate in the massive battle scenes.
When filming was completed, the miniseries was set to air on TNT. But during post-production, Turner, who made a cameo as a Confederate officer during Pickett's Charge, was so impressed by what he saw that he decided to release "Gettysburg" theatrically. The film was distributed by New Line Cinema, which Turner had just acquired. The film was only shown in 248 theaters at its widest release, and was limited to one or two showings a day because of its inordinate length. "Gettysburg" grossed nearly $11 million, but was still considered a box-office flop. However, the film became an all-time top grosser in the home-entertainment market, and has become a staple of classroom history lessons. Its TV premiere on TNT in June 1994 garnered over 23 million viewers, a record for cable TV at the time.
One of the longest films ever released by a Hollywood studio, Gettysburg runs 254 minutes (4 hours, 14 minutes) on VHS and DVD. A director's cut edition, with several extended or deleted scenes, sold as part of a special "Collector's Edition" on VHS and LaserDisc, which also included a book of Gettysburg paintings by Civil War artist Mort Künstler, an original Civil War lead Minié ball, stock photographs of key officers from the battle, and other items. Ron Maxwell's 271-minute (4 hours, 31 minutes) Director's Cut has been shown on Turner's TNT Station regularly and is now available on DVD.
The movie was released on Blu-Ray as a Collector's Edition on May 24, 2011 for the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War.
A prequel entitled Gods and Generals was released in 2003 based on the novel of the same name, written by Michael Shaara's son Jeff Shaara. It primarily focuses on the life of Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and the battles leading up to Gettysburg.
The PC strategy game, Gettysburg: Multimedia Battle Simulation was released by Turner Interactive in 1994. It contained 67 cinematic scenes from the film, many of them outtakes.
Read more about this topic: Gettysburg (1993 film)
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