ONE of modern cinema’s most groundbreaking movies is coming to Barnsley in a rare 70mm print later this year.
The Parkway is one of only a handful of cinemas in the country to be able to properly project 70mm prints, which provides an exceptional level of visual quality and definition.
So when cinema owner Rob Younger heard about a new 70mm print of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, taken straight from the original negative, he had to find a way of showing it in Barnsley.
“What happened is the director Christopher Nolan has become Mr 70mm recently, shooting his movies in it at a time when everyone else really is a purveyor of digital film.
“He has got behind a re-release of 2001, which is 50 years old this year, and was originally shot on 70mm which is still the highest definition film you can screen. This version is not tweaked, not restored, it is a copy of what audiences would have originally seen.”
The 70mm print is currently being screened in London, but Rob hopes to have it to show in Barnsley by November.
In the meantime, distributor Warner Bros provided him with a 4K digital version.
“We screened that earlier this month and while it wasn’t a massive crowd - a lot of people will be waiting for the 70mm those that did come, loved it.
“With it being a 70mm roadshow copy there is a prologue, so there was three-and-a-half minutes of music before, the curtains opened to reveal the MGM logo, there was an official interval.
“Kubrick did a cue sheet for the projectionist to work from so we timed our showing to that. The curtains opened and closed and everything else according to the original sheet from 1968. It was great, showed great and we made a proper show of it too.”
So unusual is it for a cinema to still have the 70mm capability and a dedicated projectionist Rob stays in the booth and ensures everything runs smoothly throughout the showings that people travel from far and wide to experience it in Barnsley.
“I installed the kit, I service it and check it before and during each show,” Rob added.
“Any time we do it, I will pull the projection room door open and let people come in and see. A lot of people don’t realise just what goes on behind the scenes.”
