70mm (1 Viewer)

[JJR512]

Are any films shot on 70mm film anymore? Is so, please name some contemporary releases.

Why has 70mm usage dwindled? Is it really that much more expensive, or is there just not enough of a benefit to using a film cell that's four times as large as a 35mm cell?

I wonder how many movie theaters even have 70mm projectors anymore. I'm guessing that none of the new slew of umpteen-screen stadium multiplexes have them, and maybe since a lot, or most, of the distributed copies would have to be duplicated in reduced size is the reason it's not used much now.

 

[Jo_C]

"Far And Away" (1992, I believe) was shot in 70MM Super Panavision, while "Baraka" (I think it was made in the late '80s) was in 70MM Todd AO.

I think the reason why you no longer see films either made or released in 70MM is because of technological advances in digital sound. Until the '80s, the only way to actually appreciate films in high quality stereo sound was to see it in 70MM, even if it meant blowing up a 35MM film to 70MM.

Now, with DTS, SDDS, and Dolby Digital, you don't have to make a film in 70MM to appreciate the best sound. 70MM film, in terms of contemporary films, is sort of out of date.

HOWEVER, there's an exception...IMAX. IMAX is based in 70MM, with the film going horizontally instead of the other way around (much like VistaVision, another wide screen process although no longer used for mainstream films is now prominently used for special effects shots, although once in a while Disney uses a modified version of VistaVision for its animated films done in 1.66:1). Larger framing area (although the aspect ratio is almost square, like the Academy 1.33:1 ratio of your television set), but still 70MM.

I do wish 70MM films would be made again myself.

 

[Lyle_JP]

The last film to be shot entirely in 70mm was Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (which, by the way, still hasn't been released on DVD)
-Lyle J.P.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Also, I think that a lot of the nifty new equipment that cinematographers like to use isn't necessarily available with 70mm - is there a good 70mm handheld camera, for example?

 

[Christian Dolan]

Actually, according to the American Cinematographer’s Manual (@1986) both Mitchell and Panavision have/had hand-held 65mm cameras (the extra 5mm are added during printing, to facilitate mag striping for multi-channel audio).

-Christian

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Well, handheld or not, that sucker would be tremendous to lug around. Another reason is that digital effects would need to be rendered with 4x the resolution, and one would therefore hope 4x the detail would have to go into it, necessitating a much higher amount of work, meaning more money. I read an early interview with Peter Jackson saying he considered doing LOTR in 70mm, but decided against it because of this.

 

[Shad R]

Wait a minute...I saw Lord of the Rings in 70 mm. I saw it in Denver at the Continental, 3 story tall screen, and in the Rocky Mountain Newspaper, it advertised it as being ENHANCED 70 MM PRINT...they were also showing a 70mm print at the Imax and downtown at the 16th Street mall..was Rocky Mountian News wrong??Can anyone from Denver confirm wheather or not it was?

 

[Duane M Davis]

If it was indeed in 70mm, it was a blow-up. Otherwise, most theaters just project a 35mm film onto the IMAX screen.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Most theaters today are incapable of showing flims in 70mm. Since studios don't do "road show" engagements any longer, the format just isn't profitable. Disney's IMAX versions of their animated films are the modern day analogues of these limited engagements. 70mm was a truly wonderful film format to behold, though. It's a shame that it's all but disappeared.

 

[John Knowles]

I was lucky enough to see the most recent 70mm studio film, Hamlet in 70mm at a local theater that has the equipment (they can even do 30fps Todd-AO) to show it and it totally blew me away. After seeing that plus the restored 70mm prints of Vertigo and Spartacus, theater chain 35mm projection just isn't the same. I'll have to write them and ask if they can get one of the LOTR 70mm blow-ups.

 

[TedD]

Having worked at the Continental when I lived in Denver, I can confirm that it was equipped with Norelco 70mm projectors back then. I would have no reason to think that they would have been removed.

Ted