For Patrick Tomasso, a 6 a.m. international flight and a roughly 350-mile journey was a small price to pay to see one of his favorite movies, “Interstellar,” on the big screen again.
The Toronto-based cinematographer and film influencer said he’s seen Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic dozens of times since it debuted a decade ago. But when Paramount Pictures, the film’s distributor, announced it would be rereleased on select screens, Tomasso knew he’d do anything to secure a ticket. Even if it meant taking a very quick trip across the border to New York to see it at the closest theater with an IMAX screening available.
“Look what everyone did for Taylor Swift,” Tomasso said, referring to the hoards of fans who traveled the world to catch the pop star’s recent record-breaking global tour. “This is my Eras Tour.”
“Interstellar,” set in a futuristic Earth that’s becoming no longer habitable, follows farmer/ex-NASA pilot Joseph Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey) as he and a team search for a new planet for humans. The Oscar-nominated film was a commercial hit at the time of its 2014 release, making more than $730 million at the global box office.
Now, the film’s limited rerelease is giving it another boost. It generated $4.5 million across 166 screens last weekend, with all IMAX screenings selling out. On some secondary markets online, tickets were listed for up to $215 per seat, according to Variety.
While rereleasing a film in theaters is not new, the renewed success of “Interstellar” reflects a growing trend among audiences and distributors alike for these kinds of events. Many smaller theaters often run films in rerelease to help fill seats. In the aftermath of dueling Hollywood strikes, as well as the pandemic prior to that, studios and exhibitors leaned into a similar strategy.
“At least 27 legacy films were rereleased in 2024 into more than 100 domestic theaters — in many cases, more than 1,000 — grossing more than $90 million in total,” according to a recent Variety report.
Among the most notable examples was “Coraline,” a stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film that grossed $53 million during its rerelease this summer. It was so successful in its rerelease that it returned to theaters for a third time on Halloween in newly remastered 3D and 2D formats.
The rerelease of “Interstellar” is tied to its 10th anniversary. After the success of Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” at the 2024 Academy Awards, Paramount Pictures announced the theatrical rerelease of the film in April during CinemaCon, an annual film industry conference. Warner Bros. Pictures, which co-produced the movie, worked alongside Paramount for the revival, Variety previously reported.
The news immediately drew excitement, particularly among Nolan’s fervent fans who have long admired his dedication to prioritizing the theatrical experience. His 2008 “The Dark Knight” was lauded for being among the first studio films to be shot partially using IMAX cameras.
Some moviegoers, like Natalie Fernandez, missed seeing “Interstellar” in theaters the first time around. The Miami-based research coordinator said she had always hoped to see it in IMAX.
“A friend told me I can’t experience it on a TV screen or a laptop screen,” said Fernandez, who documented her first time seeing it in IMAX last weekend with a video on TikTok. “It just does not compare.”
The text over her video read, “not to be dramatic but watching Interstellar in IMAX is a life-changing experience.” In her caption, she elaborated, “the tears never stopped, i fear no other movie will EVER top this.”
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Nolan said he was « so gratified by the response. »
“It’s really thrilling when people respond to your work at any point,” he told the publication. “But 10 years later, to have new audiences coming and experiencing it in the way that we’d originally intended it on the big IMAX screens and in particular on those IMAX film prints? It’s really rewarding to see that it continues to have a life.”
Tomasso, the avid moviegoer, said he already has tickets for the rerelease of David Fincher’s 1995 film, “Se7en,” which is slated to return in January around its 30th anniversary.
When asked why he thinks rereleases are becoming so popular, Tomasso said “the theater is one of our last religious experiences where we can sit down in a dark room, nothing else matters for those two hours.”
“I really hope we can hang onto that,” he added.
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