What's wrong with re-releasing remastered classic movies.......in THEATERS? (1 Viewer)

[LanceJ]

And in quality theaters: big screens, properly set-up sound systems, etc.

What got me thinking about this was my recent journey to find Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo dvd, the one that Universal remastered around 1999 (picture & sound) before the film itself literally fell apart. While searching I saw that re-done Singing In The Rain--not my favorite movie but it's got great visuals with beautiful color (typical of 50's musicals) and good music.

I began trying to imagine what these movies would look like on a real screen, i.e., the screen they were actually made for. I wasn't even born when these shows debuted and think it would be awesome to see them properly!!!

What do you guys think?

Other movies I would like to see back in theaters:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Forbidden Planet
The Ten Commandments
The Sound of Music
Blade Runner

LJ

 

[Bruce Hedtke]

I have long hoped for someone to start a theater that was dedicated soley to the reshowing of older films. Classics, foreign, commercial...no matter, just bring it back to the big screen. While I'd love to see 2001 on the big screen (I never have), I surely wouldn't limit the choices. I'd also love to see things like Predator and JFK on the big screen.

Bruce

 

[Malcolm R]

There's nothing wrong with it, but theatrical re-releases seldom attract a large enough audience to make the striking and distribution of new prints profitable.

Some will attract an audience (the SE "Star Wars" films, though ESB and ROTJ both saw diminishing grosses; "The Exorcist" did quite well). However, most have been disappointments ("E.T.", "The Wizard of Oz," "Gone with the Wind," etc.).

 

[Patrick McCart]

A lot of classics have either been preserved enough or restored to where prints made from them are circulating.

If you had a theater and wanted to rent a pristine 35mm print of Sh! The Octopus from Warner Classics, they'd have one for you!

 

[Jason Seaver]

If you had a theater and wanted to rent a pristine 35mm print of Sh! The Octopus from Warner Classics, they'd have one for you!

Any particular reason you mentioned that one? I only ask because I actually saw it a few weeks ago at the Boston Sci-Fi Marathon (at 2am, mind, but I was awake!).

(And, to digress further, I enjoyed it. Less plot than a Marx Brothers movie, but it had some very nifty FX for its time)

Also, a number of the movies mentioned have been re-released after their restoration - they just played at repatory theaters rather than the multiplexes. I saw 2001 projected in 70mm at Coolidge Corner, Singin' In The Rain recently played the Arlington Regent Theater (and will soon play the Brattle), and Vertigo plays the Brattle all the time.

But, I live in Boston, which has the sort of population that supports these sort of things. Many people just will not go to see a movie available on TV or video in theaters (heck, I figure the HTF is only a couple weeks away from the monthly "I'm giving up on theaters and only watching movies on DVD aren't you proud of me" thread). When I lived in Portland, ME, the guys at Keystone Cinema Café (a second-run theater with table service) tried to have regular programs of classic movies, and it just didn't draw. I was happy to see The African Queen and The Trouble With Harry on the big screen, but most folks looked at the price of a ticket and figured they could rent it for half that at Videoport.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I have a 35mm print of the 1976 classic "Tunnelvision". It's not remastered or in the greatest condition, but it still looked pretty nice when I ran it after-hours at the theater I worked at!

 

[Francois Caron]

About fifteen years ago, some movies were priviledged enough to be presented theatrically following a restoration process. This is how I got the chance to see "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Spartacus" for the very first time in all their magnificent glory. Although Lawrence was presented in a theater with a slight smaller than average screen, the experiece was still incredible. Spartacus however was shown in a theater equipped with a very big screen and a kick-ass sound system, an experiece I still remember to this very day. In both cases, the movies were presented with an intermission and all the original opening, entr'acte and closing music.

Along with the introduction of cell phones, rude patrons, badly calibrated projection and sound systems, and commercials, the total absence of a true theatrical experience is just another one of many reasons why I've given up on movie theaters altogether. And it's pretty sad too. I truly enjoyed going to repertoire theaters in the past, paying no more than five bucks to watch an old flick and truly enjoying the theatrical experience. Today, that experience is pretty much dead and buried.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

There are plenty of arthouse theaters that run revivals from time to time. For example, The Charles in Baltimore runs a revival every Saturday. I saw The Wild Bunch there a few weeks ago.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

What's wrong with re-releasing remastered classic movies.......in THEATERS?

Many films, unfortuneately, aren't properly restored. Rather, they do a digital restoration that makes the DVD look spectacular but would be insuitable for making new film prints from. Other films are restored properly (such as the ones RAH works on) and new pristine prints are made from them. Superman: The Movie is an example. They were *this* close to having a nationwide re-release of it to cash in on the Superhero craze in cinema lately. Unfortuneately, they kowtowed to the insufferable Harry Knowles from Aint-it-cool and had the test run in his hometown of Austin, Texas. Since it wasn't a major area, the test run bombed and they canned their plans.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I began trying to imagine what these movies would look like on a real screen, i.e., the screen they were actually made for. I wasn't even born when these shows debuted and think it would be awesome to see them properly!!!

Were you old enough to see the restored Vertigo when it played in theaters nationwide in 1996? Well worth the trip!

M.

 

[Chad R]

I saw "Vertigo" in a theater when it played and it was incredible!

The trick to remember about revivals of older movies is that when one does play in your town to go and see it. That's the only way to ensure that more will happen. The last revival I saw was 'Halloween' down at Disney. The print was in miserable shape--it had gone to pink and literally had five minutes cut out at a reel change, but I loved seeing it on a big screen none-the-less.

 

[Rob Bartlett]

When was the last time a movie was rereleased without the "extra hours of footage" gimmick? Is the cloesest Speilberg's "Guns Don't Kill People. Hippies with Walkies Talkies Kill People"-Edition of ET I mean, I'd like to see films before my time on the big silver. I've always wondered if the first Batman movie was actually good on the big screen. (I am the only one born before 1985 who didn't see it in theaters, it appears.

 

[Michael Reuben]

For people with access to New York City who don't mind midnight showings, Landmark's Sunshine Theater on the Lower East Side routinely shows classic and cult films on the big screen. Upcoming features include:

Hairspray
Dazed and Confused
Friday the 13th, The Final Chapter
Showgirls
The City of Lost Children
Wild at Heart

Previous features have included Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Road Warrior.

http://www.landmarktheaters.com/Mark...k_frameset.htm

M.

 

[Luc D]

Don't most large North American cities have repertory theaters? Having just moved to Los Angeles I've been spoiled by revival showings (just yesterday I saw a restored print of Andrei Rublev). Of course it's probably as good as it gets here, but Montreal (where I'm from) had a fine repertory theater that played a wide range of films and the prints were almost always in great shape.

 

[Francois Caron]

I've always wondered if the first Batman movie was actually good on the big screen.

It was! I saw it in a theater that actually had a decent copy of the print, and they played it VERY LOUD! The movie and presentation were good enough that I went to see the movie twice!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

At the risk of sounding like a commercial for the project I'm doing, go here: Big Screen Classics website . If you're in the New York/New Jersey area, come for a show. All 35mm, restored theatre with 1250 seats (biggest auditorium for regular film presentations outside of New York City), HPS4000 sound system, etc.

Upcoming shows: The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Quiet Man, A Night at the Opera, Rear Window, Laura, Ben-Hur (silent 1925 version with live Wurlitzer pipe organ accompaniment), The Producers, Superman - The Restored Director's Cut, Singin' in the Rain, The Thing from Another World and a few others.

 

[SteveP]

Some here may not remember that GONE WITH THE WIND had three or four enormously successful theatrical reissues after the introduction of television.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Superman: The Movie is an example. They were *this* close to having a nationwide re-release of it to cash in on the Superhero craze in cinema lately. Unfortuneately, they kowtowed to the insufferable Harry Knowles from Aint-it-cool and had the test run in his hometown of Austin, Texas. Since it wasn't a major area, the test run bombed and they canned their plans.

Actually, it was in San Antonio, but that's pretty close to Austin. I was able to see it down there, and it was terrific. I think Warners cheated themselves out of a lot of money by not giving this a wider release. The Exorcist had come out the year before and had done very respectable business for a 27-year-old movie. There's no reason that Superman wouldn't have done just as well or better. It's PG-rating would have allowed more people to see it, and it is Superman after all: a pre-sold project when the film was originally released.

But I guess all that is a dead horse now. I am glad I got to see it; I just wish more people had had that chance, too.

 

[SteveP]

THE SOUND OF MUSIC will be 40 years old in 2005 and deserves a re-release in its original 70MM Todd-AO glory.

Repertory theatres did quite a healthy business all over the US until the advent of home video in the 1980's killed the movement.

 

[MatthewA]

I, too, would like to open such a theatre, but I'm only in the research process. Everyone I've asked has been pessimistic.

If you live in LA, you can't not go see The Sound of Music at the Egyptian in 70. I saw the print at the Academy last month, and at times it looked like the hills really WERE alive!

Unfortunately, the Southeast has got bubkes!