Imagine you had a time machine. But this one works in a very particular way. You can only travel back to the Hollywood premiere of an existing film, its birthday, if you like. So where are you headed? A long time ago to experience the birth of Star Wars mania in 1977? Perhaps a trip to 1960 to see how Hitchcock’s Psycho freaked out the squares?
Or how about 2011 so you can track down Ryan Reynolds on the red carpet for imminent superhero megaflop Green Lantern and whisper in his ear: “Hang in there dude, things are gonna get better.”
That sort of time machine does not exist. But if seeing older movies on a big screen in a dark room brings you joy – as it should – then this is already the perfect year to park your DeLorean. Right now, cinema chains are awash with all sorts of retro screenings of major blockbusters.
Eight Spider-Man films are swinging out there (as part of venerable studio Columbia’s centenary celebrations), soon to be matched by eight Batman movies (to mark, um, the character’s 85th anniversary in print).
Cineworld just launched a £5 Star Wars Sundays series advancing through the nine-part Skywalker saga (plus bridging spin-off Rogue One) in order. Why? Chalk it up as a 25th anniversary nod to the spectacular 1999 launch (and critical flameout) of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
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So the 2024 film release schedule is weirdly larded with birthday reissues. But this week does see the return of some genuine heavy hitters with serious miles on the clock. Relentless cyborg nightmare The Terminator stomps back into cinemas to mark its 40th anniversary.
Fair enough, Arnie always said he’d be back – and thanks to writer/director James Cameron’s gnarly vision and fusspot perfectionism, The Terminator still looks great when projected big. There’s also a rerelease of 1969 heist caper The Italian Job. Marking the 55th anniversary of a bank holiday afternoon TV staple might seem rather arbitrary. But imagine the audience reaction when poor Arthur (Michael Standing) explodes the van and Caine delivers his signature line.
The time machine’s greatest hits keep coming. Last week, perennial student poster sales driver Pulp Fiction was rereleased for its 30th anniversary. Next month, you’ll be able to experience shadowy Viennese whirl The Third Man for its 75th birthday, Christopher Nolan’s deafening sci-fi weepy Interstellar marking its 10th anniversary, plus well-crafted 2000s comedies Mean Girls and Shaun of the Dead (both 20 years young).
In time for Halloween, we’ll get Young Frankenstein (50th anniversary) and the original Nightmare on Elm Street (40th). December is also getting crowded, with White Christmas (75th) and uncanny motion-captured Tom Hanks fable The Polar Express (20th) staking their claims for festive cinema outings.
Michael Caine and Margaret Blye in The Italian Job. Image: TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo
This unprecedented surge of upcycled screenings partly seems like a supply-and-demand issue. After the US actor and writer strikes halted Hollywood production for months last year, rereleases with name recognition are a way to pick up the slack until the content pipeline is back up to speed. Is this reheating of old movies stealing potential screens away from scrappy, up-and-coming independent films? You could make that argument.
But it looks like even the bigger chains are spreading their bets on what they offer, even if the current “let’s try anything!” approach – from putting on older blockbusters, offering entire screens for private rent or staging one-off screenings for locally produced films – feels more a symptom of corporate panic rather than largesse.
Instead of complaining, perhaps we should enjoy it while it lasts. There is genuine pleasure to be had in making the effort to attend an anniversary screening. The tickets are generally cheaper. The audience is self-selecting and, hopefully, enthusiastic but respectful. Unlike streaming there is no temptation to pause or scroll while watching. There is also a fair chance that a big anniversary cinema run is a prelude to a gorgeous new 4K Blu-ray box set. You are potentially getting the best of both worlds: that old-school movie palace experience combined with future-proofed physical media.
So who even needs a time machine? But if you do have a hankering to see a DeLorean in action, there’s always the special 35th anniversary screening of Back to the Future Part II, where Doc and Marty visit the unimaginable future year of 2015. Circle Monday 21 October in your almanac, as that’s when it’s coming – again – to a cinema near you.
The Terminator and The Italian Job are in cinemas from 30 August.Graeme Virtue is a film and TV critic.
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