The saga of releasing Bong Joon-ho's post-apocalyptic action film Snowpiercer has come to a close.  For months, there's been wrangling behind the scenes between Bong and producer Harvey Weinstein about which cut to release in the U.S. Bong, obviously, wants his cut, which was a huge hit when it was released in his native South Korea last August.  Weinstein wanted twenty minutes removed to put a heavier emphasis on the action.  It started to look like the film would remain stuck on the shelf (Weinstein has been known to do that), but today they've come to a reasonable compromise.

Hit the jump for more.  The film stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, Alison Pill, Ewen Bremner, Octavia Spencer, Kang-ho Song, and Ko Asung.

According to Deadline, Bong's contract with The Weinstein Company stated that the movie would get a wide release, but Weinstein felt that the movie was too long at "just beyond two and one-half hours" because heaven forbid that people should have to sit still that long during an action film (Even though audiences do it all the time for big summer blockbuster).

The compromise between the two parties is that Bong's original cut will make its way into the U.S., but it will receive a platform release with an expanding roll out based on the film's box office success.  At the very least, even if the film doesn't come to your city, the home release will presumably still be Bong's cut.

Obviously, it would have been nice if the director's cut received a wide release, but given the choice between a director's cut on a limited release versus Weinstein's cut on a wide release, I'll choose the former every time.  Now all the movie needs is a release date.

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