'The Hateful Eight' will premiere in 70mm on Christmas Day 2015. Weinstein Company commissioned Boston Light & Sound to collect and refurbish vintage projectors for the film's extra-wide format screening, with each screen costing about $80,000. Meanwhile, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Samuel L. Jackson joined Tarantino for the L.A. photocall.
According to the Boston Globe, director Quentin Tarantino filmed his upcoming Western with vintage giant-sized 70mm film. He used the nearly obsolete Ultra Panavision 70 to bring his latest three-hour long masterpiece to life. It was reported that the Weinstein Company commissioned a Brighton company, Boston Light & Sound, to refurbish at least a hundred old projectors - 120, to be more exact - for Tarantino's 70mm film run.
Ultra Panavision 70 was last used for the filming of the 1966 biographical film 'Khartoum' starring Charlton Heston as British general Charles Gordon and Laurence Oliver as Muhammad Ahmed. According to the A.V. Club, the classic extra-wide film format was only ever used for 10 Hollywood films - usually referred to as epics.
The extremely short list includes 1965's 'Battle of the Bridge', 'Hallelujah Trail' and 'Greatest Story Ever Told', 1964's 'The Fall of the Roman Empire', 1963's 'It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World', 1962's 'Mutiny on the Bounty' and 'How the West Was Won', 1959's 'Ben-Hur', and the earliest ever shot - 1957's 'Raintree County'.
It was reported that although the Weinstein Company didn't disclose the actual amount of money poured in for the restoration of old filming equipment and projectors, a source revealed that movie-theater installations could cost up to $80,000 per screen. Skilled projectionists, many of whom have been called out of retirement, were also scouted out and employed to operate the highly complex equipment.
Meanwhile, Tarantino and several members of the cast attended the Los Angeles photocall for 'The Hateful Eight' last November 14, 2015. According to the Daily Mail, the director looked to be in high spirits despite the police backlash controversy that continues to hound him. Among the attendees were Channing Tatum, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Samuel L. Jackson.
Previous reports noted that the 52-year old director landed himself in hot water after allegedly calling members of the police force "murderers" during a communist rally against police brutality. Police unions promised to boycott 'The Hateful Eight' in response to Tarantino's comment last October in New York.
'The Hateful Eight' is an upcoming Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The 70mm version is scheduled to debut on December 25, 2015. It features Kurt Russell, Channing Tatum, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zoe Bell, Tim Roth and Walton Goggins among others.
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