A new restoration of Ben-Hur at the TCM Film Festival

[Canada]

Source: Digital Bits

Now then, the big news today is that we’ve just confirmed that a brand new restoration of William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) is going to premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood on Saturday, April 26! Details of the screening are available here. We’ve learned that this is indeed a new scan and restoration from the original 65 mm negative that’s been completed by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging in collaboration with The Film Foundation.

And given that previous WBDHE film restorations have debuted at the festival, and then followed on physical 4K Ultra HD—think Se7en, The Searchers, North by Northwest, Rio Bravo, and more—it seems very likely that a physical 4K Ultra HD release will follow sometime in the next 12 months. Note that the film’s original theatrical release date was November 18th, so that’s probably the earliest time frame that a physical release would be planned for. In any case, this is certainly very good news for those who love this big screen epic.

[PRO-630HD]

I may have to retire my Blu-ray boxset then. I can deal with that!

[UmbrellaFish]

Yeah, I’ve been wondering why they were sitting on Ben-Hur. I also have the box set which is great but is a pain to take out and watch since I have all those box sets stacked up in a mountain on one of my bookcases. I was actually looking into buying a disc-only release that would be easier to access, but this is great news. I’ll wait for this instead, hopefully it’ll be out before Easter 2026.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by UmbrellaFish

Yeah, I’ve been wondering why they were sitting on Ben-Hur. I also have the box set which is great but is a pain to take out and watch since I have all those box sets stacked up in a mountain on one of my bookcases. I was actually looking into buying a disc-only release that would be easier to access, but this is great news. I’ll wait for this instead, hopefully it’ll be out before Easter 2026.

Because Charlton Heston isn't the most popular person these days...

[rezpekt]

Originally Posted by Poya

Because Charlton Heston isn't the most popular person these days...

I hate to tell it to you, but he's been dead for nearly 20 years.

[Rizor]

Originally Posted by UmbrellaFish

Yeah, I’ve been wondering why they were sitting on Ben-Hur.

Based on some comments from George Feltenstein at WB in the past, it would cost A LOT of money to restore Ben-Hur because of the 65mm format and its 3.5 hour length, so the executives and money men at Warner Discovery were dragging their feet about signing off on it, even though they knew they would have to eventually. Basically a game of "do we really want to put this on our budget for the year?"

[JohnCarpenterFan]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Interesting. First time I've heard about this. Strange that the only real info about it is from a dude's Deviantart, though. Is he legit?

I don't know who the guy is but what he shared is along the same lines of what I heard elsewhere. The Lasergraphics site is definitely legit and I doubt they'd list it as a project they worked on based off of some obscure Deviantart page. They'd link to blogs or other pages for titles they scanned that weren't officially announced, released or had placeholder database entries on here like with Ben-Hur.

[koberulz]

Wishlist.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Wishlist.

Hall monitor.

[bud_brigman]

Oh man. Hopefully sooner rather than later. This is *the* film for me. I have that big, obnoxious, Best Buy Blu-ray version.

[CrimsonLegionVMCXIX]

I love my 50th Anniversary boxset. In fact, I would love a 4K version of that boxset, but they'll probably just give it the Ten Commandments and Wizard of Oz treatment and call it a day.

[spudeus]

I still have my Ben Hur DVD mini box set, which I thought had very good PQ in its time. I'm also wondering if El Cid will get an upgrade in the US.

[hagios]

[apricissimus]

The existing blu ray looks great. If there were never another release of Ben-Hur, I would be well satisfied.

[pross]

Originally Posted by apricissimus

The existing blu ray looks great. If there were never another release of Ben-Hur, I would be well satisfied.

The last blu ray is indeed quite good. That said there is a lot of room for improvement. A 4K UHD should look spectacular. Hopefully, WB will properly handle the sound… specially the great Miklos Rozsa score.

[bud_brigman]

It's cool how they got it out in time for Easter -- oh, wait --

[apricissimus]

It's weird that The Ten Commandments seems to be more associated with Easter when Ben-Hur would be much more appropriate.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by apricissimus

It's weird that The Ten Commandments seems to be more associated with Easter when Ben-Hur would be much more appropriate.

10 Commandments is the first Passover and BH has the Passover in either 4/25/31AD or 4/3/33AD (take your pick of lunar eclipse and day counts)


I recently saw a DCP of BH but it had no restoration credits.

Like being in it.

A day at the races.

.

[Slopeshreder]

I just remember think the blu-ray of The Ten Commandments actually had deeper colors...so I hope this is actually an upgrade.

[Deciazulado]

Somebody asked in another forum if Ben-Hur printed in IMAX would be a reduction print and since nobody answered that, well here's the answer.

It would be a blow-up print.

Ben-Hur in IMAX:




Ben-Hur in 70mm anamorphic (MGM-Camera-65/UltraPanavision) left, and de-anamorphisized flat equivalent right.





Probably would look cool too on an Omnimax dome, ending like a Cineramaic curved screen.