OVERALL: Draw

- For the Director's cut, the best choices are the Korean UE and the Japanese UE, since they both offer an English DTS soundtrack. The Korean edition has also a bonus soundtrack DVD, which appears to be an exclusive to this release.
- For the European theatrical version, the best choice is the Italian release since it offers the movie in its original aspect ratio.
- For the French theatrical version, go for the French 20th AE boxset, it has the best extras but only a French soundtrack.

The US theatrical version was available on Laserdisc, but hasn't been released so far on DVD.

GENERAL NOTES:
*Although "The Big Blue" is a French produced film, the film is predominantly spoken in English.

*The following versions of the movie are known:
- The original French theatrical version running ~132min,
- The original European theatrical version running ~120min,
- The original US theatrical version running ~118min,
- The Director's cut running ~168min.

CUTS:

• R1 Director's Cut America- Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (~168min NTSC).
• R2 20th Anniversary Edition France- Gaumont/Paramount Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (~163min PAL).
• R2 20th Anniversary Edition Boxset France- Gaumont/Paramount Home Entertainment - No cuts - includes both the French theatrical version (~128min PAL) and the Director's cut (~163min PAL).
• R2 Special Edition France- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - includes both the French theatrical version (~132min PAL) and the Director's cut (~161min PAL).
• R2 Version Longue France- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (160:20 PAL).
• R2 Cine Collection - Extended Version Germany- Concorde - No cuts - Director's cut (161:24 PAL).
• R2 Extended Version Germany- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (160:20 PAL).
• R2 Italy- Filmauro - No cuts - European Theatrical version (~117min PAL).
• R2 Ultimate Edition Japan- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - includes both the European theatrical version and the Director's cut.
• R2 Director's Cut Spain- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (160:20 PAL).
• R2 Director's Cut Sweden- SF Film - No cuts - Director's cut (160:20 PAL).
• R2 Version Longue United Kingdom- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's Cut (160:20 PAL).
• R3 Ultimate Edition South Korea- Platinum DVD - No cuts - includes both the European theatrical version and the Director's cut.
• R4 Director's Cut Australia- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment - No cuts - Director's cut (160:40 PAL).

Do you own a release not listed? Then please visit our forums and let us know!

Comparison added by Craig on 14/07/01
Comparison last updated by James-Masaki_Ryan on 24/04/20

UPDATE LOG:

14/04/11: Fixed typos in the Overall. Also updated the Tagline.
12/02/10 and 15/02/10 : Confirmation that there is a European theatrical version of the film, presumably offered on the Japanese, Korean and Italian releases. Also added the Italian disc specifications.
24/01/10 : Addition of the French 20th AE editions and of the German edition, comparison clean-up and addition of notes regarding the different versions of the film.
24/04/20: Added Germany Concorde, Spain.