History, Legacy & Showmanship
“The Modern Miracle You See Without Glasses!”
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 60th anniversary of the release of The Robe, the first motion picture produced in CinemaScope.
In addition to a detailed history of the film’s original theatrical release, the article features a roundtable interview with three authorities on widescreen history.
THE ORIGINAL ENGAGEMENTS OF “THE ROBE”
Presented here is a chronological listing of the original first-run theatrical engagements of The Robe for the major and selected secondary markets in the United States and Canada. The number of weeks the film played has been provided for some of the entries. [Read on here...]
“It’s designed primarily for fun, to be entertaining, a warm movie about what it’s like to be a teenager. But it’s also about the end of a political era, a sociological era and a rock era.” — George Lucas
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective article to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the release of American Graffiti, George Lucas’s classic 1973 film that nostalgically asked, “Where were you in ’62?”
This article features a chronological list of the movie’s original theatrical engagements in the major cities of North America, plus a collection of historical information and quotes from critics. The article is also an attempt to clarify some misconceptions about the movie’s distribution and box-office performance. [...]
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective article to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of Die Hard, the action-adventure classic that turned Bruce Willis into a superstar, catapulted John McTiernan to the A-list of movie directors, and created a new standard for the modern action movie. The article features an interview with action movie authority Eric Lichtenfeld plus a collection of historical data.
Cleopatra, 20th Century-Fox’s well-publicized epic starring Elizabeth Taylor, was the most popular movie of 1963/64… even though history informs us the movie was a failure. Presented here in commemoration of the golden anniversary of it premiere, and its recent Blu-ray release, is a (work-in-progress) list of the film’s original theatrical roadshow engagements in the United States and Canada. These engagements of Cleopatra were shown exclusively in major cities prior to the film being given a traditional nationwide release and included reserved seating with an advanced admission price with an average of ten scheduled showings per week. Much like a Broadway production, these presentations included an overture, intermission, entr’acte and exit music. The roadshow engagements were presented in 70-millimeter and six-track stereophonic sound. As well, souvenir programs were sold.
Let us continue the James Bond 50th anniversary celebration, shall we? Last autumn, around the time Skyfall was being released to theaters, the Blu-ray set was hitting retailers and the anniversary hype was in high gear, I had this idea that it might be interesting if I could round up a few of my James Bond historian friends, turn on a recorder… and talk James Bond, and then perhaps turn that into an article. It didn’t happen (primarily for logistical reasons). But a few months later the next best thing did happen. That is, separately-conducted interviews that have been edited into a round-table format.