ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Will Screen in VistaVision at the Coolidge Corner Theatre

The Coolidge Corner Theatre announced that it has been selected to screen Paul Thomas Anderson's hotly anticipated new film One Battle After Another in VistaVision, joining only three other venues worldwide to exhibit the film in this rare and unique format. (The other locations are Regal Union Square 17 in New York; Vista Theater in Los Angeles; and Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London.)

A Warner Bros release, One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn. VistaVision screenings of One Battle After Another begin at the Coolidge on Wednesday, September 24.

VistaVision was created by Paramount in the 1950s as a way of competing against other widescreen formats such as CinemaScope. VistaVision's key innovation was flipping the standard 35mm frame on its side, thus increasing the size of the frame from four perforations wide to eight. This larger negative area results in remarkable sharpness, finer detail, and reduced grain, making it one of the highest-quality film formats ever developed.

The film will be playing on original VistaVision projectors believed to be the first two prototype machines made by Century Projector Corp. in 1953, which were provided by the George Eastman Museum and fully restored by Boston Light & Sound, who are supervising the installation of them at the Coolidge.

The format fell out of fashion in the ensuing decades; according to Anderson, One Battle After Another is the first wide release film both captured and projected on VistaVision since One Eyed Jacks in 1961. Anderson has shot all of his movies on film stock, and recently posted the following on the official One Battle After Another Instagram account: “You don't need reminding, but it always bears repeating that seeing Film on Film is the way Nature intended. So don't go against Nature and seek out your local theater that projects film.”

The Coolidge shares Anderson's commitment to the medium; in 2023, the theatre established a “Film Forever Fund” that directly supports celluloid film projection (including equipment maintenance and projectionist training).

“The Coolidge has long been renowned for its world-class projection capabilities, and we are thrilled and honored to be working with Warner Bros and Boston Light & Sound to bring VistaVision to our audiences for the first time in decades. Paul Thomas Anderson is a true visionary, and we are grateful to him for his continued support of our efforts to show film on film,” remarked Program Director Mark Anastasio.

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