Remember all those oldies-but-goodies your parents made you watch growing up? Well, they’re back in a big way with the FantasticRealm Film Series.
The series is screening 15 fantasy and sci-fi movies from back in the day at The Carolina Theatre of Durham from Mar. 16 to 18.
FantasticRealm, part of the the theater’s Retro Film Series, will focus on family-friendly favorites the whole weekend.
Jim Carl, director of film programming at the Carolina Theatre, said the stars of the show are the five films being shown in rare 35mm 3-D. Among the five: "Jaws" in 3-D. This type of 3-D uses the original technology from the '80s to present the films exactly how they looked when they first premiered.
“Except for one or two screenings in the U.S., none of the films have been screened in 3-D since they were released almost 40 years ago,” Carl said. “It’s going to feel like you’re sitting in a theater in 1983.”
After obtaining the elusive films and rights to screen, Carl had to track down the few remaining, unique film lenses from the 80s in order to show the films in authentic 3-D. Today, it would cost over $20,000 to recreate these antique lenses. Carl is flying down a team of professionals to hand-deliver the lenses right to the theater.
In addition to the lenses, original 3-D glasses from the '80s are needed to view the films. Today, each pair of glasses cost over $100 — but viewers at the Carolina Theatre get to watch the movies in classic 3-D, with the glasses, for only $9.50 a ticket.
“If you miss this, you’ll probably never see it again,” Carl said.
The other 10 films in the series feature what Joe Student, director of live events at the theater, called a “retro all-star lineup.” The lineup includes “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “The Princess Bride” and the original “Planet of the Apes.”
