70 Mm Festival: "Around The World In 80 Days" 30 frame version comments and questions

Shoot, I'll give you a finders fee for finding that one! It's still one of my all time favorite films and that print you found was amazing.

After the workprint was screened, Ridley Scott went back and created his Director's Cut and it made a brief appearance in theaters in 1992 I think.

Here's a scan of the ticket for the screening I saw:

 

I was at at UCLA a few years ago, and they had a doc on a Disney animator. Many of the old school disney animators were there.
I stood up and asked if Disney ever made a bad animated film. In unison, all 20 of them said Black Cauldron. All of them retired after that film.

 

I'll probably be at 80 Days. Don't think i can swing the others.

 

Dark Crystal was a big let down

 

The Dark Crystal was shot 35mm scope.
http://stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=46049&highlight=dark+crystal+70mm

 

There was a 70mm blow up of The Dark Crystal with 6-Track Dolby Stereo, however The Dark Crystal was shot using 35mm film.


Technical Specifications for
The Dark Crystal (1982)

Film negative format (mm/video inches)
35 mm
Cinematographic process: anamorphic
Printed film format:
35 mm
70 mm (blow-up)
Aspect ratio
2.35 : 1


http://www.in70mm.com/library/blow_up/year/1982.htm

 

i loved the northpoint theater. i went there whenever i could. a great, big, wide screen and great sound. i remember that WS festival also featured screenings of THE WILD BUNCH and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

now it's an office building. pity.

it must be tough to keep a single screen theater operating these days.

later, chris

 

Was TRON shot in 65mm? Or was it blown up from 35mm?

 

Live action scenes were shot in 65mm.

SFX was shot in 35mm VistaVision (wide horizontal frames), then transferred to 65mm.

-Aaron

 

It is.

As soon as the AMC1000 Van Ness opened, all the first-run singles began to close. Northpoint (see above) The Royal (now abandoned) the Alhambra (now 'Gorilla Sports' fitness center) the Regency I and II (redeveloped), the Coronet (awaiting demolition to become a commercial/residential complex), the Cinema 21 (abandoned) and the Presidio (possibly being sold to another company to reopen as a specialty theatre) are all gone now.

I removed the projection and sound equipment from the Royal, Alhambra, and Regencys when they closed... It didnt feel good to see that these once majestic places were allowed to deteriorate (Royal) or simply closed down (the rest)...

The Metreon was the final nail in the coffin, the other remaining singles (save for possibly the Castro) may not last thru the next 10 years, especially if the Metreon plays art/specialty films.

-Aaron

 

Wow Aaron... it seemed for a time there in the '90's that most of what was left of the "movie palaces" were going to be saved. Or at least it was a euphemistic impression I had.

Around here we have The Fremont, reportedly the last large-scale 'Art Deco' style theatre made. As of the time I write this, it is still here and a working single-screen theatre.



In 1990 they replaced the original arc projectors and non-original sound system and screen; I'm not too impressed with the presentation but many people think it's great. The building itself however, I love. The architect was S. Charles Lee. It's in a largely original state, with a great facade of neon and sweeping lines, wonderful recessed cielings in the little lobby and a cavernous single screen auditorium with original murals and ornate sculpted cieling (some of the cieling's neon lighting is working and the forms and painting is still intact). Behind the screen is a stage, this being one of, if not the, last theatres to build-in a "backup function" (as one heck of an auditorium). In fact the Freemont stage has seen use in recent times for a few live concerts (John Hiatt among them) and even as a recording venue. If you haven't seen it and are coming by between LA and San Francisco, be sure to see it while it's still around!

Photos of facade:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/busterken/25707954/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister_goleta/44195226/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister_goleta/44195229/in/photostream/
The unique neon sign:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister_goleta/44199651/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mister_goleta/44199650/in/photostream/
Auditorium:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/99964663/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mscaprikell/23184461/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mscaprikell/23184354/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mscaprikell/23184206/in/photostream/

A recording made at the Freemont: Yes - Keys to Ascension
http://www.relayer35.com/Yescography/thekeyst.htm

What a place... love those grand theaters; truly they mixed art and commerce, reflecting the point of popular film in archecture.

 

Fremont in SLO and Cinema 21 in San Diego

My 9 year old son and I were just up in SLO last week and saw Ice Age 2 at The Fremont. I hadn't been there in quite a few years, so seeing a movie again in the large theater was quite a treat. It's a little bit run down, but was still very enjoyable. Note: The regular size drinks don't fit in the cup holders at the seats (!)...

I worked in the Cinema 21 here in San Diego as a teenager when we were showing Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so I really have a soft spot for large theaters. Now the C21 has been demolished to make way for more condos or whatever they're building.

We also had the Valley Circle theater closeby the C21 that showed Star Wars for quite some time...Now a brewery/restaurant is on the site...

I hope the Fremont can hold things together and keep running. It's a very large space, though, for not very much revenue coming in. There were about 20 of us there for the 3:30 showing...

Thanks, Randy

 

We have two single-screen theaters in town, we're very lucky. They're only a couple of blocks from each other.

Some local theater owners, real movie guys who just love these things, bought them in the early 90s to run as second-run theaters.

Later they bought an empty lot a few blocks away and built a nice 4-screen theater. Then a few years ago they bought an old warehouse another block down and made an excellent new 8-screen multiplex.

All this activity ran the awful mall theater into the ground, and now the local guys are the first-run guys.

One of the old single screen theaters, The America, was recently restored with a massive curved screen and an amazing sound system. That's where they run the big 'blockbusters' like King Kong and War of the Worlds. I saw Spider-Man 2 there on opening day and will never forget that experience!

The other, The Rialto, is used for smaller films like Brokeback Mountain. The arrangement works very well and these guys are single handedly responsible for keeping our downtown alive.

dan c

 

Would this be 'Bijou, Inc' out of Casper?

-Aaron

 

Bijou, Inc. is gone. The current company is called Movie Palaces, Inc. They run a few other small theaters in Wyoming including one in Riverton and a really nice one in Lander. The Lander theater is a real trip back in time. It was a modest neighborhood building rather than a 'palace', but it retains a lot of charm.

The Casper theaters were heavily modified over the years. The America was given a rather pathetic 'face lift' in the early 50s and is almost unrecognizable compared to historic photos. The current owners have done their best with what's left of the inferior and the movie going experience there is second to none. Only certain IMAX presentations in Denver can compete with this place IMHO. We're pretty lucky!

Here's how The America looks now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/btmeacham/38287401/

And here's The Rialto:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/btmeacham/38287385/in/photostream/

dan c

 

Ah... Just wondering, as the projectors from the aforementioned Regency I and Alhambra theatres in SF and the original two projectors that were in the Stag Screening Room on Skywalker Ranch were sold by us to Bijou in 2004. Figured they ended up at one of the theatres in that area.

-Aaron

 

I believe one of them might be in The America. I'll try and dig up the photos I made for the story a couple of years ago. They use those amazing huge Norelco projectors on every one of their screens here. They also bought a few for 'parts' to keep them all running as long as possible.

dan c

 

Was the Cinerama dome even fitted with a three projector set-up, or did they just not even bother?

 

The three booths were there but they only installed a pair of 70mm machines into the Baker booth for its original opening. They didn't put the three 'genuine Cinerama' machines in the Dome until just a few years ago.

-Aaron

 

I'm going. Who else is?

 

Am There..is it sold out? Bought mine last week.

 

I wonder how many other cool things are just laying around Hollywood in dresser drawers, under beds, in dark closets, etc.?

I suppose no one thinks "today" how special something will be 20, 30 or 50 years from now?

 

I couldn't make it this time. But was it great Steve? I feel that these screenings are all once in a lifetime. And as a kid I remember this movie being great. And now can't remember anything else about it. So it might have been a really interesting experience for me to see how much of it seemed familiar, or all new on the screen.

Jeff