'The Avengers' movie released in 1998 has to be one of the biggest disappointments ever in the history of movies... at least for me. I was genuinely looking forward to it having missed out on the opportunity to visit the set the year before. A stuntman friend of mine was doing some work on the film and needed some help with his gear. He knew I was a fan of the original series and tried to get in touch with me. But this was a few years before the advent of mobile phones, so his calls to me went unanswered as I was at the day job helping Sooty to put on a show at The American Adventure Theme Park. When the film was released, it got blistering reviews. And it's easy to see why. The film was a mess and its narrative virtually incomprehensible. There were rumours of it being a troubled production. The film seemed to have very short running time for a so-called blockbuster. There had been no preview screenings for the press prior to its public release. Indeed its premiere was virtually non-existent. And what's more, even more sinister, was the fact that Sean Connery's face appeared nowhere in the Titan Magazines special published to coincide with the release (save for a shot of him in a full page ad for another publication).
Titan Books had also published a novelisation written by Julie Kaewert. Kaewert had used the original screenplay and the book revealed many omitted scenes and the plot actually made more sense. Indeed, it was one of those rare occurrences where the novelisation was actually better than the film!
Adding to the ignominy of the film's reputation (at least on a personal level). I was browsing a second hand VHS stall at the local flea market one Saturday and found, to my surprise, a brand spanking new copy of the film on VHS. It was the Saturday before the Monday the film got its official release on the medium. The VHS was a genuine copy and the tape inside had been played for about ten minutes. You can picture the history... Reviewer gets preview copy - Watches ten minutes of it - Gives up - Can't wait to get shot of it - Sells it on to a second hand stall - Rescued by fan out of pity.
As the years rolled on, stories of the production and the apparent existence of a 'Director's Cut' started to fly around filmdom.
Fast forward to last year and I was approached by Dan Martin who runs a Facebook page dedicated to getting the 'Director's Cut' released on Blu-ray. He wanted a faux cover as a proof of concept to put on social media to drum up some support for the campaign in the wake of 'The Snyder Cut' of 'Justice League' getting a release.
How could I not refuse?
Here it is with a few variants. Hopefully it speaks for itself. It's different to the original artwork. Not TOO quirky or stylised with the fun being emphasised through the use of old BBC weather symbols in the background. I also slipped in the union flag/rampant lion symbol which, although from 'The New Avengers' fitted in with the flavour of the design - especially since its a symbolically burning icon behind Sir August.
Hope you like it and I'm still waiting for the call from Warner Bros either to ask me to produce a final version of the cover or to issue a take-down order.
Here's some textless versions of the artwork.
And a selection of logo variants too...
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