BROOKLINE, Mass. — Movie night is getting a little old-school at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, where audiences will have a rare opportunity to experience Hollywood’s latest blockbuster using technology developed more than 70 years ago.
The Brookline theater is one of just five venues worldwide selected to screen Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s highly anticipated new film, Digger, starring Tom Cruise, using the vintage VistaVision format.
For the Coolidge, getting the opportunity was not always guaranteed.
“It seemed like it wasn’t going to happen,” said Mark Anastasio, artistic director of the Coolidge. “And then we got a late call that, yes, indeed, they were hoping to screen it here in this incredibly rare format.”
Unlike a typical digital screening, the presentation will use original VistaVision projectors made in the early 1950’s. The machines are believed to be the first two prototype projectors built by Century Projector Corp. and are on loan from the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.
VistaVision was developed by Paramount Pictures in the 1950s as an alternative to other widescreen formats. Its distinctive design used a horizontally oriented 35 mm film frame, allowing for a larger image negative and greater detail.
Bringing the decades-old technology into working condition has required some additional preparation.
“We normally have a digital projector and two film projectors, but just for fun, just for business division, why don’t we add two more film projectors?” said Nick Lazzaro, technical director at the Coolidge.
The theater has worked with Boston Light & Sound to restore and install the vintage equipment and train its projectionists on how to operate the machines.
For Lazzaro and the team, getting the projectors ready involves learning the small details that make operating the historic equipment different from a modern digital system.
But for a theater like the Coolidge, the experience goes beyond simply showing a movie.
“For a theater like ours, to put on a presentation like this, it’s an art form in itself,” Anastasio said.
Source: spectrumnews1.com
