Editing The Wicker Man (section)

===Original release===
The first screening of the film was to trade and cinema distributors on 3 December 1973.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web| url=http://artandhue.com/wicker |title = ''The Wicker Man'' | website = Art & Hue presents The Wicker Man}}</ref> The first public theatrical release was a week of test screenings at the Metropole Cinema London on 6 December 1973 ahead of the official public release in January 1974.<ref name="auto1"/> It runs 87 minutes.

A copy of a finished, 99-minute version<ref name="markkermode">{{cite web |last=Kermode |first=Mark |url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/feature.jsp?id=111049 |title=Something Wicker This Way Comes |work=Channel4 |access-date=30 January 2009}}</ref> was sent to American [[film producer]] [[Roger Corman]] in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] to make a judgment of how to market the film in the U.S. Corman recommended an additional 13&nbsp;minutes be cut from the film. Corman did not acquire U.S. release rights, and eventually [[Warner Bros.]] test-marketed the film in drive-ins. It screened in the greater [[Atlanta]] area in May 1974.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wicker Man advertisement |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal-the-wicker-man/137534603/ |website=Newspapers.com|date=17 May 1974 }}</ref>

In Britain, the film was cut to roughly 87&nbsp;minutes, with some narrative restructuring, and released as the [[B-movie|"B" picture]] on a double bill with ''[[Don't Look Now]]''. According to Lee, the cuts adversely affected the film's [[Continuity (fiction)|continuity]].