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This post is just a little preview of the upcoming 3-D Blu-ray release of the 1953 favorite IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, coming on 10/4/2016 from Universal Home Video and available initially as a retail exclusive at Best Buy (link updated 9/15), with general availability at other retailers to be announced at a later date.
[Note that this will not be the red/green anaglyph conversion from the 1970s that came out on VHS tape at one time, but a modern Blu-ray 3-D version of the original dual-strip film elements.]
I was recently granted the opportunity to see a preview of the final 3-D Blu-ray master that will be used for this release. Bob Furmanek, head of the 3-D Film Archive, invited me plus several others to view the master on his setup utilizing an Epson 5030 LCD projector running an image about 8 feet wide.
The results, courtesy of Archive Technical Director Greg Kintz's 3-D alignment and panel matching, are nothing short of superb. I ran a 35mm dual-strip Polarized print at the Lafayette Theatre, plus I've seen it several times via this same process, and the 3-D Blu-ray is even better. Greg managed to correct 99.9 % of the errors in the original (there is one shot that Bob described as being impossible to fix - I think it lasts 4 seconds - and I didn't notice it while we watched the movie) and it just looks great.
And there's a huge upgrade in the sound department - they were able to access the last surviving element of the original 3-track stereo master (Left-Center-Right) and have preserved the original - v e r y w i d e - dynamic range and channel placement. The previous DVD used a tamed-down version of this mix and hearing the Blu-ray is a revelation.
I'll follow up this post with a full review when the Blu-ray hits the street, but this posting can serve as a preview and assurance that you can safely pre-order this science fiction classic with confidence.
For more information about the film and its history, go to the 3-D Film Archive.
