Article by Adam Poncharoensub
Todd Phillips’ Joker is coming, whether you like it or not. Personally, while previous script leaks have indicated that it’s an absolute mess, I’m still willing to give it a shot. The trailer was pretty spectacular and painted a portrait of a man who gets that “push” that we hear about so frequently. It’s extremely eerie in the perfect way to encapsulate the Joker. It’s a serious departure from other DC movies thus far, coming off as far less comic booky than previous efforts. The trailer featured no flights of fantasy and no spectacular action sequences. Just a broken man who loses his mind. Similar to the upcoming Vertigo-based The Kitchen, a flick that WB is shooting and marketing less like a comic book movie and more like a serious crime drama. For film aficionados, they have a real treat for you. It seems that select theatres will be receiving 70mm prints of Joker.
Earlier yesterday, a local arthouse theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts announced on twitter that they had received a 70mm print of Joker. Check out the announcement below:
Just confirmed! Put on a happy face. Joaquin Phoenix is the JOKER, opening on #70mm on 10/4. pic.twitter.com/ysoLB67rpy
— Coolidge Corner Theatre (@thecoolidge) July 13, 2019
Film snobs rejoice!
Since this is a local, small theatre and very few chains are equipped to project 70mm prints, it’s likely that this version of Joker will be in very select movie theatres. For film buffs, this is a fairly big deal that it shows that WB is treating this movie very seriously, gearing it towards people who are enthusiastic about film.
For those who are unaware, before the age of digital, movies were shot on film. Yes, those large reels of film that have to be lugged into the projectionist’s booth and set up. For the most part, film snobs still adore film because digital simply cannot capture the detail that film can. Nearly all movies are now shot on digital in order to save on cost and simplify logistics. The same goes for several movie theatres as well. This mostly all applies to 35mm, which was the standard right before digital became widespread. Now, 70mm prints, as you guessed it, are twice as large. This means that they are larger, heavier, and more expensive to film on, transport, and project. The difference being a larger, crisper, more detailed image on screen, with more information, similar to how the wide aspect ratio added to the scene.
So with that being said, do you understand now why WB’s investment in 70mm prints are a big deal? Film enthusiasts, let us gather and rejoice for this news!
Find your local theatre equipped with a 70mm projector by October 4th to catch Joker.