More than 50 years after it shocked audiences and ran into censorship battles, Ken Russell’s The Devils is getting another week on the big screen. The uncensored Director’s Cut has crossed $2 million at the domestic box office, prompting Warner Bros. Clockwork to extend the theatrical run following strong audience interest.
“Rejoice. KEN RUSSELL’S THE DEVILS is here to stay.”
The extension follows an opening weekend that brought in approximately $1.7 million across 350 theaters, an impressive result for a restored 55-year-old film carrying an NC-17 rating. Box Office Mojo recorded a domestic total of more than $2 million by October 19.
The rerelease is a major moment for a film that has spent decades frustrating fans who wanted to see it as Russell intended. Released in 1971, The Devils stars Oliver Reed as Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century French priest caught in a political and religious struggle that spirals into accusations of witchcraft. Vanessa Redgrave plays Sister Jeanne des Anges, a nun whose fixation on Grandier helps set the tragedy in motion.
Inspired in part by Aldous Huxley’s nonfiction book The Devils of Loudun and John Whiting’s play, Russell’s film depicts religious hysteria, political manipulation and mass persecution through feverish imagery and confrontational scenes of sex and violence. Its treatment of the Catholic Church and its graphic content provoked outrage. The film received an X rating in the United States and faced cuts and censorship in other territories. Some of the footage removed from the original release became notorious among cinephiles precisely because it was so difficult to see.
That long history makes the new restoration particularly significant. Warner Bros. Clockwork worked with the British Film Institute to present the definitive cut in 4K, using the original camera negative for the picture restoration and original 35mm magnetic film elements for the audio work. The version being shown is based on a reconstruction supervised in 2004 by Russell and editor Michael Bradsell, working with film critic Mark Kermode and filmmaker Paul Joyce. According to the BFI, this is the first publicly released version of the film presented as Russell intended. <Cite refs={[“turn147588search0″,”turn147588search4”]}/>
Kermode has spent years advocating for the film and helping draw attention to the missing footage. The restoration finally brings that effort to a theatrical release, allowing audiences to see material that had been unavailable in the film’s conventional public versions. The result has been celebrated by film critics as a chance to reassess one of British cinema’s most provocative works.
The movie’s return also marks the first release from Clockwork, Warner Bros.’ specialty label for distinctive theatrical titles. Rather than quietly sending the restored film to a streaming service, the distributor gave it a nationwide theatrical engagement beginning October 16. The response has been strong enough to keep it playing beyond its originally announced one-week run.
For fans who have spent years seeking out The Devils, the extension offers another chance to experience Russell’s film on the big screen. For newcomers, it’s an opportunity to see why a movie made in 1971 could remain controversial for more than half a century, and why its restoration has become such a notable event for film lovers.
The extra week is a rare second chance for a movie that spent decades being cut down, withheld and debated. This time, audiences are showing up to see it.
