The Hateful Eight Roadshow

Now this is a release I am very excited about. We've all heard that Quentin Tarantino is planning a special roadshow release of his new western The Hateful Eight this December, and it will be shown specially in 70mm, in a few theaters that have been retrofitted with 70mm projectors. However, exact details on the film and the release plan had not been confirmed until today. Tarantino spoke to Variety and confirmed that the 70mm roadshow version of The Hateful Eight runs 3 hours, 1 minute and features an intermission. This glorious 70mm version will have scenes that play in "big, long, cool, unblinking takes", but he's cutting a slightly different version for the regular theatrical release. That one will be shorter with a few different edits.

Tarantino discusses the timing of his different cuts of Hateful Eight: "The roadshow version has an overture and an intermission, and it will be three hours, two minutes," Tarantino told Variety. "The multiplex version is about six minutes shorter, not counting the intermission time, which is about 12 minutes." Why? Well, Tarantino realizes the audiences have different tastes and desires while watching movies, and he's trying to cater to each of them - with a focus on those going to the roadshow getting the best experience. He says:

"The 70 is the 70," he said. "You've paid the money. You've bought your ticket. So you're there. I've got you. But I actually changed the cutting slightly for a couple of the multiplex scenes because it's not that. Now it's on Showtime Extreme. You're watching it on TV and you just kind of want to watch a movie on your couch. Or you're at Hot Dog on a Stick and you just want to catch a movie."

Very interesting. He also adds that, "It was awesome in the bigness of 70, but sitting on your couch, maybe it’s not so awesome. So I cut it up a little bit. It’s a little less precious about itself." I'm intrigued that he's thinking this way and literally making decisions about how to cut his movie based on where/how people are going to be watching it. Hopefully this will be a smart decision, and all the cinephiles will flock to the 70mm roadshow, and everyone else can still enjoy it anyway. I know I'm definitely planning to see the roadshow version as long as it's showing somewhere near me (and isn't impossible to get tickets). I'm curious to see how many other people go, and if it's a huge success. The experience of the big screen still can't be rivaled.

There's a statement in the article where it mentions that the non-70mm Hateful Eight release will not actually be shortened. "The two-time Oscar winner was not ordered to truncate the film for wider release." Instead, "he tweaked certain scenes to better suit the separate viewing experiences." So it's essentially two completely different edits of the film, one designed for the 70mm roadshow experience, and the other for sitting on your couch lazily watching Tarantino's western. He also didn't want to confuse anyone, so if you're still confused by this point, we can't help you. But we will still hopefully see you in theaters on opening day.