David Fincher’s “Fight Club” re-released with 4K Remaster

David Fincher breaks the first rule of “Fight Club” on its 25th anniversary: ​​The author revisits the iconic 1999 thriller with a remastered reissue, complete with a tie-in book. New Regency and 20th Century Studios have announced the 4K Ultra HD remaster, overseen by Fincher. The iconic film will also be re-released in theaters at a later date with plans to come.

Alongside the remaster, Insight Editions and New Regency will release an exclusive 25th anniversary art book as a collector’s item. The book includes new interviews, unearthed visuals, original artwork, and rare behind-the-scenes material, giving fans the most in-depth look yet into the making of the film and its enduring legacy.

“Fight Club” stars Edward Norton as the narrator, who falls in love with Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and their shared love Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) as he finds himself tapping into his inner wildness through at an underground fight club.

The story of the New Regency film extends far beyond its breathtaking ending: “Fight Club” was apparently edited by Meat Loaf, filmed by Paul Thomas Anderson, almost starred Courtney Love, and even led Janeane Garofalo to claim that Norton had it. was kicked out of the cast by telling director Fincher that she “couldn’t afford” to take on the role of Marla (subsequently, according to Garofalo, she lobbied for Love to be in the role… only to which Pitt then disputes since Love blocked his attempts at a Kurt Cobain biopic.)

And if all this cinematic history didn’t already feel like a gut punch, “Fight Club” was re-edited in 2022 to get a censored ending for its streaming release in China via Tencent Video.

Fincher didn’t mince his words when it came to responding to the changed ending, which actually more closely mirrors author Chuck Palahniuk’s original conclusion to the novel. “If you don’t like this story, why would you license this movie? It doesn’t make any sense to me when people say, ‘I think it would be good for our department if we had your title on it…we just want it to be a different movie,'” Fincher told Empire magazine. “This fucking movie is 20 years old. It’s not like he has a reputation for being super cuddly.

Upon its original release in 1999, “Fight Club” was initially a box office bomb. The film debuted in Venice and went on to gross $37 million domestically on a budget of $63 million.

“It was an interesting experience because we all loved it and were very confident about it. We were kind of stung,” lead star Norton said on PeopleTV’s “Couch Surfing” in 2019. “It wasn’t a financial success at first, there was never even a conversation about awards and all that bullshit. You can never completely detach your ego from the way he behaves at first, but then we all had the very special experience of realizing that the relationship he formed with people was everything you dream of when you cast in a movie.

Fincher reflected on the film’s legacy on its 20th anniversary, saying at the time: “We were making a satire. We were like, ‘It’s as serious about blowing up buildings as ‘The Graduate’ is about fucking your mom’s friend.’