End of an era - Farewell to US 35mm prints of Serenity

With a heavy heart, we say a fond farewell to the much loved (and well used) 35mm prints of Serenity in the US.

Can’t Stop The Serenity has learned that Universal is no longer sending out prints of Serenity to US venues. Universal has been extremely generous to CSTS in keeping 35mm prints of Serenity around for as long as they have, but we knew it couldn’t be forever.

With the rise in digital formats and the cost of maintaining 35mm projection equipment, many venues have been making the switch to the new DCP (Digital Cinema Package). As a result, our beloved 35mm prints have been retired. Some may say that the prints have been showing their age recently, but it’s still very sad to see them go.

Here’s an interesting tidbit for you… did you know that Serenity was actually the very first digitally presented feature film? Although it was never shown that way in theaters at the time of its release (due to only a limited number of venues having the capability to screen DCP), Serenity was on the cutting edge of this new technology.

And now CSTS attendees have the chance to see the film as it was first shown to only a few select insiders – in glorious DCP.

Fortunately, CSTS had anticipated this change and the majority of events used digital copies last year so only a limited number of events are impacted by this. Many have reported that the switch from 35mm to DVD, Blu-ray or DCP was very successful, so we look forward to a great year of fantastic events despite this news.

Note: This news relates to prints in the United States. Some countries may find them still available but no doubt not for long.

4 thoughts on “End of an era – Farewell to US 35mm prints of Serenity”

Inevitable, I suppose. But still kind of crazy to contemplate.

Studios are notoriously short-sighted about this sort of thing. I am guessing that these 35mm prints are going to be tossed in a dumpster or bonfire somewhere. It is to bad that they can’t see their way towards selling off the individual frames or strips of film to Serenity fans who have shown extraordinary levels of love for this film. Disney has made a small mint doing this with frames of some of their early animated work.