2001 coming back in 70mm, unrestored

I'm hoping that only the trailer was tweaked, color-wise. There are sections of that that seem to have a modern-day teal-ness about them - as noted on the ships, even some of the moon's shadows.

 

yup

 

Fantastic news - it’s going to be at The Castro in San Francisco!
From May 18 through the 28th.

Coming Soon to the Castro Theatre

 

Kubrick’s 2001: the film that haunts our dreams of space

 

That's where it was shown in 2001 that I saw.

 

My father took me to see 2001 in the West End of London in 1968 not long after the premiere. IIRC it was at the Odeon, Leicester Square.

Anyway, it was shown in Cinerama. My most vivid memory is of the spaceship stretching from one end of the giant screen to the other and needing to turn my head 180 degrees to see it all. I also remember the Blue Danube and the bone throw.

I was awed by the experience though I seem to remember my dad calling it: "A load of twaddle".

I was 12.

 

Fantastic.
Sorry your dad didn’t get it.

 

Mine went to see it to the only Cinerama cinema there was in Spain back in 69,which was in Barcelona and left the cinema only after 20 minutes. I wasn't even born yet in 1969 (I was born in 74). Every time we talked about 2001 he reffers to it as "that damm boring movie with all the monkeys just doing nothing and being lazy". He can't understand why 2001 or A Clockwork Orange, which premiered here years later as in 1971 Franco ("our" Dictator) was still alive and wouldn't allow such a movie to be shown in the Spain of the time, are some of my favourite movies. For him are just brainless and boring but nicely shot and looking movies. He's more into movies like Bridge On The River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Black Hawk Down or Pearl Harbour.

 

The Lazy Monkeys!

 

My dad is just like that, adorable but peculiar as only him can be .

 

I saw The Lazy Monkeys open for the Talking Heads on the Naked tour.
I thought they were great.

 

“For the first time since the original release, this 70mm print was struck from new printing elements made from the original camera negative,” Christopher Nolan explains. “This is a true photochemical film recreation. There are no digital tricks, remastered effects, or revisionist edits. This is the unrestored film – that recreates the cinematic event that audiences experienced fifty years ago.”


So no digital tricks.

What the hell is Nolan going on about anyway? People don’t react to a film because it’s a photo chemical process they react to a film for the story character and pictures. The film is just as cool on a 22 inch color TV, Chris.

 

Let's hope it's not futzed with, color-wise, and that it looks the way it should. As it stands now, the current Blu-ray and DVDs have a scene that looks way too pink to me. It's the elevator sequence in the space station that delivers Heywood Floyd after his first voyage. Everything in that scene is pinky-purple, and then when he steps out to be greeted, things get a little better, but still look too pink.

Now I've always justified that in my head that we're seeing the effects of fluorescent lighting and the way it affects film, but then I also wonder if that's what Mr. Kubrick intended.

 

IS there a list of theaters showing this in 70mm?

 

Not yet, as far as I know - see my earlier post in the thread:

2001 coming back in 70mm, unrestored

I read somewhere yesterday (don't have the link handy) that theaters without 70mm projection capability would be getting a 4K DCP. That's the first I've heard about that.

 

Last summer, "Dunkirk" was projected on 159 screens in the USA in 70mm. I suspect this rerelease of 2001 will be similar. I hope to catch a 70mm screening of 2001 at the Gateway Movie Center in Columbus, OH when it plays there for 10 days in June.

 

The last time I saw 2001 on the big screen was an unforgettable evening. It was shown in a really good concert venue on a huge screen in pristine quality (you could read every notice and label!) and only utilised the dialogue track. The music was presented live by an orchestra on a stage in front of the screen and on either side, in the staged seats, were separate female and male choirs. They provided all of the instrumental and vocal effects (many of which I had not even realised were provided by the human voice). It was a stunning presentation that went without a hitch and added an extra dimension to the film.

I was lucky enough to get tickets from a work colleague who was double-booked and I could have sold the second ticket many times over. A few of my friends have still not forgiven me for not giving them the first opportunity to go along! I also got the tickets half price! These things don't happen very often but when they do you have to grab them.

I'm not sure if it was from a 70mm print or not but it was superbly detailed and crisp with no colour issues.

I think that my only copy of the film is on DVD. It was an anniversary set that came in a silver box with a mounted 70mm film cell (the rotating space station). I haven't seen it for a while and wonder whether this may be the time to upgrade to a blu-ray copy? I won't be getting rid of the old one as it was such a nice package!

 

Nice story! Maybe wait a bit for Fall release for another Blu-Ray release to compare with previous Blu-Ray.

 

I will check out the reviews when it is released. I'm not sure if there is a good documentary celebrating the film that could be included. I don't recall seeing one and can't remember there being much in the way of extras on the DVD, although I think it did come with the soundtrack CD. I really must dig it out as I'm not sure now exactly what was included.

 

It’s supposedly coming to 4K Ultra Blu-ray.

 

I’m there! Because you have to be.

 

I think the problem is the use of the word "unrestored". What everyone truly means is that, beyond making sure the color timing is correct, etc. that there wasn't any digital manipulation and that this was pulled from the original camera negative without digital manipulation.

 

Yep...or possibly just a new internegative - to make prints - from an existing IP

 

Spoiler alert 2: the monolith – yes, The Original Monolith – can also be seen on the slapdash orchestra-stalag soundstage setup of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels.

Hey, it's a music forum, right?

I saw 2001 in its first run on a Cinerama screen – apparently one of the biggest ones ever – in Omaha. Transformative experience. I was 18-19. I 'got' it, but my parents didn't seem to. I presume a lot of people expected more of the same in a 60s outer space movie: Leslie Nielsen, fistfights with aliens, green-skinned Martian babes with antennae.

I don't remember color details, but the multichannel sound was stunning. And visceral. Even then I knew that it was the carpeting in that large hall that made the sound so immediate.

And that screen really was Titanic. When Kubrick did that final signature slow zoom into the monolith, on a wraparound screen, I got serious chills. Scary and wonderful.

The Castro (SF) is a great movie palace, but its screen is nowhere near big enough to do 2001 justice. I don't even know if there are ANY big screens in the city anymore.