In Amsterdam 70mm is reborn! |
Read more at in70mm.com The 70mm Newsletter |
| Written by: Johan C. M Wolthuis, International 70mm Publishers, The Netherlands | Date: 26.01.2016 |
 On
January 7, the 70mm screenings of The Hateful Eight started in the EYE Film
museum in Amsterdam in their amphitheatre Cinema One with 315 seats and with
3 performances a day. The slightly curved screen measures 14.25 m x 5.15 m.The 70mm screenings are an unbelievable success. René Wolf, Head of Acquisitions & Senior Programmer: said “Since the screenings started here in EYE, on January 7. we have had 41 public screenings of the film, from which 33 were sold out, including all the evening screenings. So far we had 12.752 admissions, and with presales for forthcoming shows the number exceeds already the 20.000 admissions. We are quite positive we will reacht 25.000+ admissions easily. Evening screenings are sold out already till and including February 10, but on weekdays we still have tickets for screenings in the mornings and afternoons. We already announced screenings until February 17, but are still adding new ones.” So 70mm in Amsterdam will probably set the record for the 70mm screenings of The Hateful Eight, maybe going to end as the most successful 70mm movie of this decade in Europe? |
More in 70mm reading: Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in Ultra Panavision 70 Internet link: |
Why this succes? |
|
 Because
of the enormous publicity in the Dutch newspapers? I collected 18 full pages
with reviews about the film and interviews with Tarantino. Not a few lines,
but full pages. And mostly in favour of the film. I have never seen that
with any previous movie in Amsterdam. But one page on the Culture page of
the Dutch newspaper Trouw on Januari 7, had two different opinions: “Why
Tarantino is so important?” One journalist thinks that Tarantino is one of
the most important filmmakers of the last 25 years. “Since 1992 he gave the
sleeping Hollywood Studios a fierce pulse of electricity.” Next to this
another meaning of a female journalist: “Why I will never become a fan of
Tarantino: Tarantino has nothing to say about the human condition and
chooses for the easiest way of horror and sadistic violence.”An inquiry among the visitors, mostly Tarantino fans, before the first full house screening , why they came to the EYE for Tarantino's movie (they have to take the ferry crossing the harbour) instead of the easier way to see it in the inner town of Amsterdam, resulted in the same answer from all: "We want to see it the way Tarantino has meant it: in 70mm!" So that is the reason, not the enormous publicity! Not being a Tarantino fan, I may add my personal opinion after having seen The Hateful Eight twice in 70mm in the EYE auditorium: “Of course I have enormously enjoyed the beautiful 65mm photography of the stagecoach in the snow, the unbelievable sharp 70mm close ups of the actors in Minnie's Haberdashery, but also the great acting and the dialogues. All very professional photographed by DOP Robert Richardson. Great movie until the Intermission (without music). After the Intermission it was as I may say, boring, no beautiful close ups, no new plot, no snow blizzard outside, only inside a blood blizzard with too much heavy violence as only Tarantino can think of! So for me the second half was a disaster and too long. But I will absolutely remember the first half of the movie with beautiful scenery and great acting and forget the second half. And wait for the next 70mm movie by Christopher Nolan. Will surely try to visit him when he starts filming in France in July! EYE Cinema One has a unique renovated Dutch Cinema organ, which is often used by screenings of restored silent films, like Charlie Chaplin's. It is equipped with digital Barco 32B – 4K and two unique Kinoton FP 75 ES (Electronic Shutter) Studio 35/70mm electronic projectors without Maltese Cross. From these machines are only six in the whole world. When The Hateful Eight storm is over, they are thinking of a monthly program of regular 70mm classics, such as West Side Story, they have a new 70mm print from 2009. |
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