StudioCanal are venturing deep into the vaults to bring the 1980’s cult classic ‘Flash Gordon’ back to life with a 4K Ultra High Definition restoration to mark the film’s 40th anniversary.
Mike Hodge’s cult classic, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond and adapted for the screen by Michael Allin (Enter The Dragon) and Lorenzo Semple Jr (King Kong), was fuelled by an iconic soundtrack by the rock group, Queen and followed A football player, Flash Gordon, and his friends who travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.
Directed by Mike Hodges and produced by Dino De Laurentiis, the original film was shot in Technicolor and Todd-AO-35. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed and Ornella Muti.
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For the new 40th Anniversary 4k restoration, Flash Gordon was scanned from the original 35mm negative to produce 4K files. Over 500 hours of manual restoration repaired serious damage that included image instability, scratches and intermittent flicker.
The sound was scanned from the original track negative and underwent restoration to improve issues ranging from audio drop-outs throughout the feature and during reel changes, digital clicks and optical distortion. The film was colour graded for theatrical, home entertainment and 4K HDR release, using previous digital releases and 35mm prints as a reference. In line with the Director’s vision and the original 35mm cinema release, VFX work was applied to remove the strings in all scenes where visible. This restoration was approved by Director Mike Hodges in May 2020 and will include the first 4K HDR Dolby Vision master of the film.
The restored film will be available from August 3rd (4K UHD Collector’s edition, Blu-ray, Steelbook, DVD and digital)
With an abundance of special features, the restoration will be available in 1 disc, 2 disc or a 5 disc Collector’s Edition ranging from DVD £17.99 / Blu-Ray £22.99 / Steelbook £39.99 / Collector’s Edition £69.99.
Watch the new trailer below.
