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Everything he touches turns to gold... The classic
1964 James Bond film Goldfinger is to be rereleased
nationwide in the UK next month
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Goldfinger Returns To The Big Screen
2nd June 2007
Classic James Bond films are heading back to
the big screen in cinemas across the UK thanks to the transition
to digital
projection technology.
Sean Connery's classic outing as 007
in Goldfinger (1964)
is due to be re-distributed in about 150 multiplexes and
commercial venues in the UK from July 27th.
As Bond Fever hit in the mid-60's, the
earlier Bond films were often shown back-to-back as double
bills ahead
of the latest 007 outing being released, and later into
the 1970s when the cinema was still the preferred place
to watch movies. But the advent of home video in the
1980s, when fans could watch films when and where they
desired,
brought the curtain down on theatrical rereleases being
financially viable.
Ironically, it is another home entertainment
technology revolution that is bringing Bond back to the
big screen.
Due to the huge demand for pristine DVD releases, digital
masters of classic movies are now stocking the shelves
of studios. With an increasing number of theatres taking
up digital projection technology, either to complement
or to replace traditional film, a new audience has been
found. Generations brought up on watching the 007's early
adventures on the small screen can now look forward to
seeing Bond where he belongs - up on the silver screen. |
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Above: Sean Connery as 007 in Goldfinger, voted the most
popular Bond film in a 1999 poll. |
"This is excellent news for younger fans
who have never seen the early Bond films on the big screen",
said Lee Pfeiffer, author of several Bond books and editor of Cinema
Retro magazine which covers the 007 phenomenon as well as
other films of the 1960s and 1970s. "The Bond double features
of the 1960s and 1970s were enormously successful and often out
grossed new films at the box-office. However, since the advent
of home
video in the 1980s, the widespread Bond reissues have been non-existent,
although theaters that do show them find that they draw very
well. The
Film Forum in New York City just had two weeks of big screen
Bond reissues."
To this point, Pfeiffer points out that in 2005, Cinema Retro
in conjunction with www.mi6-hq.com held a black tie, 40th
anniversary screening of Thunderball in London. Tickets sold
for £100 each - and the event sold out. "There is
no substitute to seeing a film on the big screen with an appreciative
audience", he said. "I think the Goldfinger screenings
in the UK will prove to be very successful."
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With traditional film prints costing around £2000
to £7000 to print each, lossless digital copies,
which are distributed on a tape no bigger than a video
cassette, cost about £50, making short runs of films
more economically viable. More and more cinemas are installing
digital projection equipment. Almost all of those that
will be showing Goldfinger will do so in digital form.
This will also be the first time a Bond film has been released
digitally in the UK.
John Letham, managing director of Park Circus, the Glasgow-based
film distribution company behind the rerelease, told The
Sunday Herald it was "testing the water" with
Goldfinger and that other classic Bond films such as "Thunderball" and "From
Russia With Love" could follow.
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Casino Royale was shown in digital format in some American cinemas
last year. Goldfinger is a test case not only for the rerelease
of other Bond films, but also for the digital release of the
next Bond film in UK cinemas. "Bond 22" is scheduled
for release on 7th November 2008, and shooting is due to start
in January.
."Goldfinger was the third one and it was probably the
pivotal one," Letham told the Herald. "People always
talk about what is their favourite James Bond, and Goldfinger
is one of the ones that always come up," he said. "But
there are others as well, so it could well be the first in a
series of rereleases."
Letham set
up Park Circus with partner Nick Varley in 2003 because
they thought there was a gap in the cinema market for old
films.
The Goldfinger rerelease is tied to a new BBC Two initiative
called Summer Of British Film. Details are still being
worked out, with a high-level industry meeting being held
in London on Monday. A key feature of Summer Of British
Film will be a series of documentaries called British Film
Forever. It ties in with the rerelease of several British
classics, including Goldfinger, The Dam Busters and the
Scotland-set horror film The Wicker Man.
Park Circus is working closely on the Goldfinger rerelease
with Eon, the James Bond production company. Anne Bennett
at Eon said, "Goldfinger was rereleased with From
Russia With Love. And a lot of the films got shown in cinemas
over Bond-themed weekends - but, as for a full-scale rerelease,
I don't think anything has happened since the introduction
of video." She added that the early films had recently
been remastered for DVD, and that the digital cinema
release would use the same
version to show Goldfinger to optimum effect on the
big screen. |
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If you are a UK fan who would like to see more classic 007 rereleases,
enquire at your local cinemas if they will be screening Goldfinger,
and lodge your interest in bringing Bond back to the big screen.
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