Music Box Theatre Announces 70MM FESTIVAL, 2/15-28

An epic format deserves an epic festival. For two weeks in February, Music Box Theatre screens nine movies - more than a half-ton of celluloid - at the Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival. Highlights include a brand new print of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the return of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master. Music Box has spent more than 100 man-hours prepping their 70mm equipment to ensure that even audiences who've seen 70mm before have never seen it with this clarity. Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival runs February 15-28, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave. www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/music-box-theatre-70mm-festival

In August 2012, film fans from around the country flew into Chicago for an exclusive late-night sneak preview of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master in glorious 70mm. Until now, the one-night, sell-out presentation was Chicagoans' only opportunity to see this gorgeous film projected in the large film format in which it was filmed. 70MM Festival presents another rare opportunity to see this Academy Award-nominated modern masterpiece in its original format.

Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival also includes: a brand new print of Kubrick's 2001 (1968); an archival print from a recent restoration of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (1965); Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958); Tobe Hooper's outer space vampire/zombie thriller Lifeforce (1985); Kenneth Branagh's interpretation of Shakespearean Hamlet (1996); Jacques Tati's colorful and slapstick Playtime (1967); children's favorite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1961); and the timeless Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical West Side Story (1961). Synopses and showtimes below.

"Music Box Theatre is committed to film presentation in any and all formats available and is one of the very few cinemas in the United States - and the only one in Chicago-still able to screen 70mm," said Music Box Theatre General Manager Dave Jennings. "It is with this capability that we proudly present these nine films as examples of 70mm film to Chicago in this very special series. All of these films will be presented the way their makers intended: on the big screen, in a theater, on film and in 70mm."

Tickets to individual movies in the Music Box Theatre 70MM Festival are $9.25 per screening. A festival pass, $70, entitles the holder to one admission to every screening - including seeing the same film more than once. To purchase, visit www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/music-box-theatre-70mm-festival or the Music Box Theatre Box Office, 3733 N. Southport Ave.