StudioCanal will unleash director Mike Hodges’ space opera Flash Gordon on 4K in a five-disc collector’s edition box set and on Blu-ray, Steelbook, DVD, and digital in the U.K. on August 3.
This new version was scanned from the original 35mm negative, requiring over 500 hours of manual restoration that included repairing serious damage, color grading, and additional VFX work to remove previously visible strings. The five-disc set is packed with bonus features, as well as a 32-page booklet, the original soundtrack, a feature-length documentary, and much more.
Check out the trailer, poster, full list of special features, and more below.
Five-Disc Collector’s Edition Contents
Disc One – 4K Blu-ray
Disc 2 – Blu-ray
Mike Hodges said: “I’m very grateful to StudioCanal for this brilliant 4k restoration. The restoration captures perfectly the vivid colors 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.”
StudioCanal will unleash director Mike Hodges’ space opera Flash Gordon on 4K in a five-disc collector’s edition box set and on Blu-ray, Steelbook, DVD, and digital in the U.K. on August 3.