“Flash, I love you! But we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!”
To mark its 40th anniversary, StudioCanal has announced a new 4k, Ultra High Definition restoration of Mike Hodge’s cult classic Flash Gordon (1980).
Inject a bit of nostalgia and check out the trailer here…
Flash Gordon, starring Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton and Brian Blessed, is based Alex Raymond’s comic strip and directed by Mike Hodges (Get Carter). The cult classic is well known for its famous soundtrack, composed, performed and produced by Queen with orchestral sections by Howard Blake.
Director Hodges had this to say on the exciting announcement, and the efforts that went into the restoration’s process: “I’m very grateful to StudioCanal for this brilliant 4k restoration. The restoration captures perfectly the vivid colours of the sets, skies and costumes. It also corrects some of the problems encountered with the special effects system we used. With Chroma key compositing we could insert skies, rocket ships, hawk-men, pretty well whatever we wanted, into the blue backing built into the studio sets.
“The problems came later when we had to eliminate, for example, the wires used on the hawk-men. We were eventually successful but even then some 35mm prints were variable and the wires would be back again. With this new restoration that problem is thankfully laid to rest. Of course Chroma key is primitive by the side of the current process, CGI (Computer Generated Imaging).
“That said I’m pleased we stuck with the old fashioned system. CGI would have been too slick. After all Flash Gordon was a cartoon strip from the 1930s brought back to life on celluloid some five decades later.”
Not only does Flash Gordon’s collector’s edition look fantastic, it also comes with a whole host of goodies including interviews, featurettes and loads more! Pre-order yours here.
Flash Gordon be in select cinemas from 31 July and will be released on 4K UHD Collector’s edition, Blu-ray, Steelbook, DVD and digital on 10 August 2020.
