In several European countries, the movie was even shown in theatres however, for this release the producers trimmed the movie down and cut out roughly 25 minutes of footage. The German DVD as well as the Blu-Ray which was released recently include both versions of the movie. The missing footage is not of too much importance for the plot, however, every now and then shows more details about the characters that can come in handy (for example Paul's family situation and Katczinsky's motivations), or come across as being entertaining (for example the additional footage of Ian Holm as Himmelstoss).
