CommentStreams:04806a41f729ebe439a821c442032598

There is roughly seven to ten minutes of footage lost. The restored version (the run time is 176 minutes) uses stills in place of those scenes. The soundtrack was found just not the corresponding footage. It stops the movie right in its tracks. It may only be 7-10 minutes, but it feels like an hour.

The premiere version (181 minutes) is what most fans consider the "holy grail." I think there were 150 (maybe 250...pretty sure it's 150 though) 35mm prints of this until Jack Warner had an editor butcher it to bring the runtime down to 154 minutes. The negative was cut to conform with these edits. It is possible a print or two still survived, or just the cut bits. Though it's quite possible they were all accounted for and ultimately melted down for the silver content.

The 154-minute version isn't commercially available beyond a VHS that was released in the early 80s.

The collector named in this article is responsible for finding (by pure accident, while working for Warner Bros) the original version of Blade Runner. He shipped off the workprint to a special screening of the film by accident.

He's responsible for the restoration of lost footage from other films as well (Streetcar Named Desire, The Exorcist, Rebel Without a Cause, and Strangers on a Train, for example), which makes me think there just may be something to this rumor that's floated around since 2010.