After early word this week that Quentin Tarantino was retrofitting around 50 theaters with 70mm projectors for his upcoming western The Hateful Eight, The Weinstein Company have now confirmed the plans. The company announced today the film would arrive in 70mm only on Christmas Day (the same day his last feature, Django Unchained, entered release), followed by a nationwide digital release two weeks later on January 8th.
“Our long relationship with Quentin Tarantino is one of the cornerstones of this company, so it’s incredibly special to us to be releasing his latest film in such a spectacular way on 70mm – we can’t think of a finer Christmas gift to be giving movie lovers and Tarantino fans this year,” TWC president Erik Lomis said in a press release. So, while we’ll have to wait on the exact theater list, at least we now know when the film will now arrive.
Update: Watch the full panel for The Hateful Eight at Cine Gear Expo with test shots from the film appearing around 20:30.
Featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, Kurt Russell as John “The Hangman” Ruth, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue, Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix, Demian Bichir as Bob, Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, Michael Madsen as Joe Gage, Bruce Dern as General Sanford Smithers, and Channing Tatum in a small role, check out the synopsis below.
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…
What do you think of the release plans?