"...which will make your enhanced viewing even doper."

December 1, 2015 1:16 PM

The cast and crew of Tarantino's The Hateful Eight discuss the upcoming old-fashioned roadshow screenings of the first film to be projected in Ultra Panavision 70 in nearly fifty years.

Almost two years ago, the project looked like it would be sunk by Tarantino's anger over a script leak (previously), but it's almost here, complete with an Ennio Morricone score (also previously).

No Film School briefly describes how that 65mm filming/70mm projection process compares to other sorts of negatives and crops. Here's a pitch for 70mm as the new digital standard.

None of the roadshow events have yet been announced for the Christmas Day release, but you can check out the rumored venues. The digital print will hit US theaters January 8, 2016.

posted by hollyholly (31 comments total)

Only get more ridiculous, Quentin.
posted by Artw at 1:18 PM on December 1, 2015 [8 favorites]

Jason Mann is going to be so jealous.
posted by TenaciousB at 1:21 PM on December 1, 2015

Willing to be spoiled on this: does Jennifer Jason Leigh get to keep her shoes on for the movie's entire running time?
posted by pxe2000 at 1:22 PM on December 1, 2015 [8 favorites]

Enjoyed getting a look at the Ultra Panavision lenses. Talk about something that is literally priceless.

It's weird... I like that this is happening, but I don't think of Tarantino's style as necessarily being an amazing fit for a format like this. Granted I haven't seen the movie. But when I think of that moment of watching a movie and thinking "Damn, we really lost something" I like of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Hamlet" (Branagh), both of which used the larger format to load the screen with a perfect combination of intimacy and scope. Tarantino generally speaks in the language of explotation cinema, which never felt like this.

Anyway, I'm just glad some of this amazing glass is being used again.
posted by selfnoise at 1:24 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Huh, according to the map in one of those links there are 3 separate theaters within 5 miles of me which will show this in 70mm. Guess its good to live in Hollywood. In this one respect at least.
posted by Justinian at 1:26 PM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

To ramble further, having watched the trailer for this there is something about the interior lighting I just don't like. It looks very flat and 'stage-y'. Which was true of Hamlet as well, but Hamlet turned that into a strength (your opinion may differ, obviously). I'm not sure if any of that has to do with the format, but certainly the format will test your production quality to the utmost.
posted by selfnoise at 1:30 PM on December 1, 2015

It's already screened in 70mm. The projector broke halfway through and it took an hour to get it fixed.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:37 PM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

I'm not actually sure how interested I am in the movie (I've been lukewarm on Tarantino's post-Pulp Fiction work), but I'm walking distance from Chicago's Music Box Theatre, which is pulling out all the stops for this (new sound system, new screen), and I did the idea of old school roadshow films (with intermissions!) so I'll be going for sure.
posted by dnash at 1:54 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Very much hoping Seattle's Cinerama Theater slots in Hateful Eight after the holiday Star Wars run. It's one of the primo 70mm screens anywhere.
posted by prinado at 1:55 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

I like that this is happening, but I don't think of Tarantino's style as necessarily being an amazing fit for a format like this.

Did you *see* Django? QT *gets* spaghetti western. Sure, it's got his spin, but as a huge fan of the genre (please see my AskMe where I briefly considered bringing a real looking gun to a kids party), it's all about justice, landscape, epic music, horrible villains, and righteous heroes. And I hadn't heard about morricone scoring it, as if I wasn't swooning enough. We have a Cinerama here in Seattle and I am literally bursting for this one.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:57 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Is this 70mm stuff just a gimmick? How close to the screen do you have to be to tell the difference between 70mm and 4k digital?
posted by demiurge at 2:00 PM on December 1, 2015

In a pure nerd tech calculation a frame of 70mm holds about 20 times the data as a 4k frame, but more it remains an analogue format, assuming they were produced from a true inter-negative and not filter through a digital process (rather more likely).
posted by sammyo at 2:07 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

They filmed it in Colorado, but it's not being shown in Colorado? I am disappointed.
posted by Monochrome at 2:10 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is Tarantino we're talking about. If it was at all possible, he did it.
posted by Artw at 2:10 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Good acting is possible, though.

(Zing!)
posted by Sys Rq at 2:15 PM on December 1, 2015

Years ago I saw the restored Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm, and while I'm sure that the appeal of the format may be lost on many, I can attest that it ain't no gimmick.
posted by Flexagon at 2:19 PM on December 1, 2015 [6 favorites]

Did you *see* Django? QT *gets* spaghetti western.

after watching Django, I finally realized the problem with post PF QT: he has enough money to be stoned 24/7 and enough clout to never be called on his idiot pothead ideas...
posted by ennui.bz at 2:25 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Dear god yes. The line for tickets (and the Cinerama's chocolate popcorn) starts behind me.
posted by palomar at 2:26 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

If this doesn't show at Cinerama, heads will roll.
posted by petrilli at 2:30 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Huh, apparently the Varsity here in Toronto can show 70mm. I had no idea. It seems like it wouldn't be big enough.
posted by chococat at 2:53 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Woo hoo coming to the Grand Lake in Oakland! I look forward to the pre-show Morricone interpretations issuing from the Mighty Wurlitzer.
posted by fawaffle at 3:14 PM on December 1, 2015 [7 favorites]

Slightly off topic, but something I have to get off my chest. I spent two weeks feeding starch packing peanuts into a gas powered mulching leaf blower because Tarantino's buyer bought every. single. last. bag of fake movie snow in North America for this damn blizzard flick. So when the movie I was working on ran out, we had to make our own, one 53' trailer full of peanuts at a time. So yeah, this movie better be good, it cost me two weeks of my life.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 3:44 PM on December 1, 2015 [41 favorites]

Woo hoo coming to the Grand Lake in Oakland!

I know! I don't really care about Tarantino qua Tarantino but I love that theater and I love spaghetti westerns, and maybe I'll love some ice cream before the show??? Hard to say.
posted by kenko at 4:04 PM on December 1, 2015

Was that the Seattle Cinerama in the promo video?
posted by kirkaracha at 5:30 PM on December 1, 2015

The trailer made me miss Colorado and wonder where on Wilson Mesa it was filmed.

...other than that, am I the only person in my generation that isn't gaga over QT?
posted by notsnot at 7:04 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think this RED page is a better overview of why anamorphic matters.
Combined with one image from the previously linked nofilmschool writeup, I think it's maybe easier to understand.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 7:38 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Pretty sure I saw the trailer for this *at* the Seattle Cinerama.
posted by clew at 8:01 PM on December 1, 2015

Can't believe the release of this is just three weeks away and there hasn't been an announcement yet of exactly which theaters will be screening it. I suspect The Weinstein Company didn't reckon on the 800-pound gorilla in the room — the Star Wars release, which will be taking up many of the screens that would have been prime candidates for The Hateful Eight.

And it also makes me nervous to think about everything that could go wrong with a release that relies on vintage, long-out-of-service projection technology to make things go smoothly. The first big press screening in New York City was halted for an hour while they fixed the projector? Yeah. As excited as I am as a moviegoer to see this (very excited), if I were an exhibitor I would think long and hard about whether I really wanted to book this film in 70.
posted by Mothlight at 7:31 AM on December 2, 2015

I don't know how many times this has screened, but now there have been two mishaps, one for each coast: What One Bad Screening of The Hateful Eight Means for the Future of Film.
posted by Mothlight at 10:06 AM on December 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Could 'The Hateful Eight' Kill Film Instead of Saving It?
posted by Artw at 7:24 AM on December 6, 2015

Tickets for the 70mm showings are on sale, and I'm pleased to report there are two theaters in the Denver area showing it (sorry, rest of the state).
posted by Monochrome at 2:58 PM on December 18, 2015 [1 favorite]