The VistaVision Renaissance: Can an Old Technology Fill Theatres Again?

Believe it or not, the film industry of the 1950s had a lot of similarities to the film industry today. Back then, the introduction of television had studios scrambling to find ways to keep audiences going to the theaters in the same way they’re panicking today about the popularity of streaming. The answer back then was to develop a variety of large-screen formats to offer audiences a new experience that wouldn’t be available on their television. The answer today might just be the exact same thing.

In 1952, Fred Waller developed the Cinerama, a wide-screen format made with three strips of 35-millimeter film that were projected side-by-side on a large, curved screen. This format was highly specialized, requiring 3 synchronized cameras and 3 projectors. A year later, 20th Century Fox came out with CinemaScope, which was similarly panoramic but only needed one projector and one screen. This format was shot from a camera with a single lens and then squeezed onto normal 35-millimeter film, which added a lot of grain that many filmmakers didn’t like.

In response, Paramount Pictures came out with VistaVision. This format used 35-millimeter film turned on its side, doubling the size of the image. This method allowed for a greater surface area of film without the grain that came with CinemaScope. Additionally, exhibitors could screen VistaVision without any of the specialized setups or projectors that were required for Cinerama or CinemaScope. On October 14, 1954, Paramount released White Christmas, the first film shot entirely on VistaVision. It was the highest-grossing film of that year.

VistaVision soared in popularity for the rest of the 1950s. It was used in John Ford’s The Searchers and Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. Alfred Hitchcock was a major fan of the format, using it to shoot many of his most popular films including 1958’s Vertigo, which is frequently hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. This film serves as an excellent example when considering the visual appeal of VistaVision. A mystery/thriller film, Vertigo relies heavily on the format’s ability to pick up and relay small details.

But VistaVision fell out of fashion by the time Marlon Brando’s One-Eyed Jacks came out in 1961, making it the last film of the 20th century to be shot entirely on the format. It enjoyed a brief resurgence when George Lucas used it to shoot the special effects in Star Wars and was featured in minor scenes in many other popular movies, but it simply wasn’t worth the cost or effort when new technological advancements could do the same thing for cheaper and easier. 

Until today. Several acclaimed directors have recently embraced the long-forgotten format for it’s hyper-realistic imagery and range. One Battle After Another, which won 6 Oscars this year including Best Picture, was shot almost entirely on VistaVision. Warner Bros. ended up sourcing and setting up VistaVision projectors in London, Boston, Los Angeles, and New York City so that the movie could be the first to be both captured and projected on VistaVision since 1961. Additionally, Yorgos Larinthmos chose VistaVision to shoot his Oscar-nominated film Bugonia. The majority of the film takes place in a cramped basement and utilizes a lot of close-ups of the actors’ faces. With VistaVision, Larinthmos aimed to make the shots look like portrait photography. 

But the studios have another reason for investing so much in the visual aesthetics of their films. Everything moves in cycles, and just like in the 1950s, audiences once again need a convincing reason to see a movie in theaters instead of waiting for it to be released on a streaming platform. VistaVision certainly promises an experience that you can’t get in the home, but will it be enough to fill theaters? With several more VistaVision projects coming out –i ncluding Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew and M. Night Shyamalan’s Remain – we can only hope for the best.