Latest news with #filmrestoration
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Star Wars' 'Looks Terrible' in Screening of Long Lost Original 1977 Version
A long-lost original print of 1977's Star Wars was recovered from an archive and screened for a group of cinema aficionados and die-hard fans. An audience was finally permitted to watch the first released version of the film — nearly perfectly preserved and unfaded — that creator George Lucas famously suppressed from being publicly shown on a big screen for 47 years. The British Film Institute event was introduced by Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, who joked that the screening was 'not illegal.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Colin Trevorrow Talks Producing 'Deep Cover,' the Return of 'Jurassic World' and Star Wars Detachment Carrie Fisher Had to Encourage Mark Hamill to "Embrace" 'Star Wars': "Get Over Yourself, You're Luke Skywalker" Mark Hamill Rules Out Doing More 'Star Wars' 'What you're going to see is in fact the first print, and I'm not even sure there's another one quite like it,' Kennedy said. 'It's that rare.' And the result? An attending film critic from The Telegraph who attended the screening last week admitted the unaltered original 'looks terrible' by modern standards. While fans understandably tend to focus on Lucas' most intrusive creative moves (adding the jarring CG version of Jabba the Hutt, having Greedo shoot first, stuffing distracting CG creatures and droids into Mos Eisley), the amount of subsequent polish and tweaks over the years is so extensive that many aspects of the original look just as noticeably fake as the egregious CG. 'I felt like I was watching a completely different film,' wrote Robbie Collin, who called the print a 'joyously craggy, grubby, stolidly carpentered spectacle' that 'looks more like fancy dress than grand sci-fi epic.' 'Every scene had the visceral sense of watching actual people photographed doing actual things with sets and props that had been physically sawn and glued into place. The slapstick between C-3PO and R2-D2 looked clunkier, and therefore funnier; the Death Star panels were less like supercomputers than wooden boards with lights stuck on, and so better attuned to the frequency of make-believe. It felt less like watching a blockbuster in the modern sense than the greatest game of dressing up in the desert anyone ever played.' A vlogger for Cinema Savvy, George Aldridge, who says he's seen A New Hope at least 100 times said the screening was 'incredibly special,' but likewise made him realize 'there are so many great changes to the Star Wars films; it's the ones we dislike that have always overshadowed them.' He, too, noted the print was so radically different that 'it felt like watching the film for the first time.' 'From day one, George Lucas has been making changes to these films,' he said. 'It hasn't just been here's one big scene change there. It's been the little nuance. It's been the sound effects, it's been the smallest details — which you do not notice until now you don't see it.' Aldridge noted differences 'like R2-D2 isn't hiding behind rocks when the Tusken Raiders come for them … there are so many little things that I noticed the cantina … there's been cleaning up of James Earl Jones' voice [as Darth Vader]…' So, ironically, a version of Star Wars that Lucas for so long didn't want to shown seems to give viewers more respect for Lucas — due to gaining some appreciation for his extensive and controversial tinkering. Both reviewers noted, however, that the theater burst into applause when Han Solo (Harrison Ford) shot first during the Greedo confrontation. Enthused Aldridge: 'Han Solo was so much cooler.' Lucas' tweaks to the print began with the very first theatrical rerelease of Star Wars in 1981. Until now, the studio has only permitted the screening of various Special Editions. BFI negotiated with Disney and Lucasfilm for the rights for a back-to-back screening on the festival's opening night. This particular BFI print was stored for four decades at a temperature of 23 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve its quality. Lucas, over the years, has been rather firm about not screening the original and, when asked in 2004 by the Associated Press why he doesn't simply release the original version along with the Special Editions, rather grumpily shot back, 'The Special Edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. I'm not going to spend the — we're talking millions of dollars here — the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw a half-completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Reopening date set for Shropshire community cinema
A reopening date has been set for a town's community charity Maona Arts plans to start showing films at the former Kinokulture cinema in Oswestry, Shropshire, from 5 July, with an 'official opening' the day cinema closed in April 2024 when the people who had run it for 14 years, Ian Garland and Ruth Carter, then, Maona Arts has raised more than £28,000 to pay for the restoration of the building and signed a lease for it on Saturday. James Bond, the chair of the Oswestry Film Society, said volunteers would spend the next month getting the cinema ready to said it needed a "good clean" inside and out after lying empty for so society has been hosting live cinema nights at the Hermon Chapel arts centre on Wednesdays since Kinokulture money raised would meet the costs of the lease for 12 months, plus seating, and a refurbished box office and bar. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Khaleej Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Rekha's iconic film 'Umrao Jaan' to release in theatres again on June 27
Veteran Bollywood actress' iconic film, the period drama Umrao Jaan, will release in theatres again. Directed by Muzaffar Ali, the 1981 cult classic has been restored to 4K resolution by National Film Archive of India. Audiences can watch the movie on the big screen from June 27. To mark the occasion, Ali will unveil a limited-edition coffee table book that offers a look into the movie's making. Featuring never-before-seen photographs, costume sketches, calligraphy, poetry, and personal anecdotes from the set, the book is a collector's item and a tribute to the film's artistic vision. Recalling working in the cult film, Rekha said in a statement, " Umrao Jaan is not just a film I acted in—she lives within me, breathes through me, even now... To see it return to the big screen is like watching an old love letter being opened by a new generation. My heart is full." Ali, too, expressed his excitement. "...I had actors who brought a lot of heft to their characters, and then there was Rekha, who lived Umrao Jaan and truly immortalised it. I am thrilled that the film is back on the big screen for a whole new generation to discover a time and culture that's very much a part of our being." Rekha won the National Award for her role as a courtesan-poetess in 19th-century Lucknow. Her graceful dance performance on Dil Cheez Kya Hai is still admired and remembered by filmophiles. Screenings will begin across select PVR INOX cinemas in multiple cities from June 27.
Geek Tyrant
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Charlie Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH Gets Stunning 4K Trailer Ahead of Its 100th Anniversary Re-Release — GeekTyrant
It's been a full century since Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush premiered at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, and now, the iconic silent comedy is getting a grand return to the big screen. A beautifully restored 4K version of the film is set to roll out in theaters worldwide on June 26th, which is exactly 100 years to the day of its original debut in 1925. I love watching these old Charlie Chaplin movies and it will be awesome finally get to watch one on the big screen! The restoration recently made its debut at Cannes Classics, kicking off the festival with a reminder of just how timeless Chaplin's work truly is. And now, mk2 Films has released a new trailer showcasing the vivid clarity and loving care that went into the 4K upgrade. According to mk2 Films, the re-release will screen in over 500 theaters across more than 70 territories. 'This historic event marks a global tribute to Chaplin's legacy, reaffirming the enduring power of The Gold Rush to captivate audiences a century after its debut,' the company said in a statement. Chaplin not only starred in the film, he also wrote, directed, and produced it. It remains one of his most celebrated works, packed with unforgettable moments like the "roll dance" and that famous dinner scene involving a cooked boot. Variety points out: 'Following its 2025 preimiere it was was met with instant critical acclaim. In 1942, Chaplin re-released a 'talkie' version, featuring sound effects, music and narration, which would receive two Academy Award nominations (the original out four years before the first Oscars).' In 1992, The Gold Rush was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Whether you're seeing it for the first time or revisiting the film, this new restoration looks like its worth watching. You can watch the trailer for the 4K version of The Gold Rush below.
Wall Street Journal
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘The Three Musketeers' and ‘The Four Musketeers': Richard Lester's Spirited Swashbucklers
Few works have sparked the cinematic imagination as routinely as Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel 'The Three Musketeers.' A hasty count indicates some 40 movie versions (the first and latest from France, in 1903 and 2023) and many more made just for television. But by common consent, the best yet is Richard Lester's 'The Three Musketeers' (1973) and 'The Four Musketeers' (1974), originally conceived as a single film with intermission but ultimately released as two separate pictures. Both have now been fetchingly restored in 4K and this week debut on home video in that form as part of the Criterion Collection. (Enthusiasts may select a two-disc Blu-ray set or a four-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo pack.) The Philadelphia-born Mr. Lester worked primarily in the U.K. and remains best known today for 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Help,' his mid-1960s filmed collaborations with the Beatles. At an early stage, there was apparently some thought of casting the Beatles as Dumas's sword-fighting trio plus their protégé D'Artagnan—an idea quickly quashed.
