Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some interesting info for you horror fans out there. I’m a big fan of rereleases and had planned to do a big This Should Happen write-up on how stupid studios are for not taking advantage of the widespread adoption of digital cinema to mine some of their more audience friendly archive titles for some extra cash, but then The Lion King came out, made millions and everybody is now talking about re-releases. However, I couldn’t help but chime in with some thoughts, especially since there’s a chance to see a cult classic on the big screen again.
The Lion King being in 3-D isn’t the story, though. I’d wager that if Disney had released The Lion King as wide and with a similar marketing push the results would have been the same. Re-releases are a tradition in Hollywood and something Disney had taken full advantage of in my childhood. I remember seeing Snow White, Song of the South and Cinderella theatrically in the ‘80s and that was at the height of cable tv and the proliferation of VHS.
We already know Star Wars, The Exorcist and these Disney titles can pull in extra hundreds of millions of dollars and it’s only going to be a matter of time before the studios realize they’re already making these 2 and 4k remastered transfers for Blus anyway and that they’re missing out on heaps of cash.
I love my home theater system, I have over 600 Blu-Rays, thousands of DVDs, a 7.1 surround system, a 62” HD screen. You won’t hear me poo-poo the home theater experience, but movies were meant to be seen with an audience, on the big screen with massive sound. It makes me sad that distribution has moved so far away from that experience, but then again the audiences of my youth aren’t the same as the rude fucktards that talk throughout movies and check their Twitter every 10 seconds.
But I’d have to imagine the audience that’d go to these re-releases would be a little more respectful of the theater-going experience.
Can you imagine a theatrical re-release of something like Back to the Future on 1500 screens, in 2k or 4k, with a giant marketing push? It’d be like printing money. I’ve long thought Universal should do that with Jaws one July 4th weekend..
Blue Underground doesn’t quite have the marketing power of Universal, but they’re doing something really cool in advance of their release of the Blu-Ray of Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, showing a 2k version of Fulci’s classic flick (this is the one where a real live stunt man dressed as a zombie grapples with a living shark) all over the country (and Canada, too!).
I have a list of theaters and cities below, which notes when and where you can go see Zombie on the big screen. Having seen this film on multiple beat up 35mm prints, I can guarantee you’ll never see it look better on the big screen than this showing.
This isn’t my ideal model for the big studio tentpole re-releases, but for a movie like Zombie it’s perfect. Midnight screenings on the nights of October 21st and October 22nd unless otherwise noted below .
ALBUQUERQUE Guild Cinema (Oct. 28 & 29)
ATLANTA Plaza Theatre
AUSTIN Alamo The Ritz (Oct. 24 & 31)
AUSTIN Alamo S. Lamar (Oct. 30)
BOSTON Coolidge Corner Theatre
CHICAGO Music Box Theatre (also Oct. 28 & 29)
CLEVELAND Capitol Theatre (Oct. 15)
DALLAS Landmark Inwood Theatre
DENVER Landmark Esquire
DETROIT Landmark Main Art
HOUSTON Landmark River Oaks
JACKSONVILLE, FL 5 Points Theatre
KANSAS CITY Tivoli Cinemas
LAS VEGAS Theatre 7 (Oct. 31)
LAWRENCE, KS Liberty Hall (Oct. 21 only)
LOS ANGELES New Beverly Cinema
MESA, AZ The Royale
MINNEAPOLIS Landmark Uptown (Nov. 4 & 5)
NEW YORK CITY Landmark’s Sunshine
OTTAWA, ONTARIO Mayfair Theatre
PHILADELPHIA Landmark Ritz
PITTSBURGH The Oaks Theater
PORTLAND, OR Hollywood Theatre
SACRAMENTO Crest Theatre
SAN ANTONIO Alamo Westlakes
SAN DIEGO Landmark Ken Cinema
SAN FRANCISCO Roxie Theater (Oct. 29 – 31)
SEATTLE Landmark Egyptian
ST. LOUIS Hi-Pointe Theatre
ST. PETE BEACH, FL The Beach Theatre
TORONTO The Revue Cinema (Oct. 22 & Oct. 31)
TUCSON, AZ The Loft Cinema
WASHINGTON, D.C. Landmark E Street Cinema
WICHITA, KS Warren Old Town Theater (Oct. 24 & 25)
WINCHESTER, VA Alamo Drafthouse Winchester
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA Park Theatre Café (Oct. 13)
YELLOW SPRINGS, OH Little Art Theatre (Oct. 22)
Hope you guys go out and support things like this. It’s not that horrible “shown on DVD/Blu-Ray shit the big chains were doing for the longest time, but a real presentation by people who really care.
Since Disney’s already announced re-releases of Beauty and the Beast (which you may remember they almost did before the Blu-Ray and pulled out at the last minute) and Finding Nemo, so you can bet that Disney has gotten the bug. Let’s just see if any of the other studios take notice.
My advice: Make these re-releases an event. Make them two-week or more engagements and not one-night only things. Market them like you’d market any other 1500 screen release. If you pick your films wisely you’ll more than recoup the costs of marketing and, for the cost of the restoration and DCP, you’ve given yourselves a license to print money.
At least those are my thoughts. What do you folks think?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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