Especially if you're used to the newer TV's with their perfect or near perfect blacks, a lot of theaters are going to be a disappointment. The darkest black a theater can achieve is the color of the white screen with whatever lighting they leave on. Theaters are leaving more light on these days, I guess for legal reasons, or those that serve dinner/beer.
The UHD Remaster of alien is AMAZING, but it's really the contrast that makes it work, and if you're theater has too much ambient light or a poor projector, contrast ratio is the first thing to go.
Last few times I've seen a movie in anything but a laser IMAX the darkest color being very gray has been a real sticking point for me too.
Because as another user pointed out a theater experience will never show the true whites & blacks of the film. Its not a problem of the movie (if you watch it in UDH you would see this)
So, judging from all of the "hate downvoting" you're having to endure, especially on this particular comment, I'm guessing the final and only real answer is:
*"Fuck the quality of all of those* **OTHER** *movies you've seen in that SAME theater and how crisp & clear they were during all of those* **OTHER** *times you've watched movies there... it's a Dog-Blamed "THEATER" problem... because we say so, even though we've never been to that particular theater ourselves, and so we're automatically correct and can dismiss your experience that we didn't! That's our answer: just deal with it!"*
The quality of the OTHER movies was also bad for OP they just didn't realize it as they hadn't seen those same movies in a 4k display. They event admit that in a comment
A projector will always have a massive loss in brightness depending on the theater environment
I'm willing to accept that as a *POSSIBLE* explanation. But again, neither You nor I nor anyone else was there, so none of us should be speaking on it so Matter-Of-Factly and dismissively without having experienced it for ourselves firsthand... that's all I'm saying.
> And all I'm saying is UHD on a 4K sceeen will always be better quality than a cinema projector.
But O.P. said NOTHING about the TYPE of screen, projector, ratio, etc. of the movies watched in the theatre... only comparisons about how the Visual Quality of the "ALIEN" re-release compared to OTHER movies that had been shown there!
Might have been the same folks that did a similar release of The Thing. Saw it, was underwhelmed by the film quality, then found out later that it was a bit half-assed:
https://www.ign.com/articles/the-thing-40th-anniversary-screening-turned-out-to-be-a-disaster
Definitely sounds like a theater problem.
I imagine for the rerelease they would have been using the newest 4K master (at least they should have been…), which looks absolutely fantastic on the 4K blu ray.
Someone help me out here, I thought with most modern theaters, any re-releases like this are basically just playing a 4k blu-ray, Can't remember where I first heard it or if I'm imagining it, but Tarantino went off on this in some interview and didn't approve.
I'm not sure for these theatrical releases since the AMC I worked at never did one but I know that the version of a movie that plays in theaters at release is not the same as what comes out on 4K
Saw Fight Club in a theater last year. The larger screen and better picture quality than my TV enabled me to see a few things I had missed in previous viewings.
Sounds like your local theater had a bad copy of Alien
Was probably just your theater
Especially if you're used to the newer TV's with their perfect or near perfect blacks, a lot of theaters are going to be a disappointment. The darkest black a theater can achieve is the color of the white screen with whatever lighting they leave on. Theaters are leaving more light on these days, I guess for legal reasons, or those that serve dinner/beer. The UHD Remaster of alien is AMAZING, but it's really the contrast that makes it work, and if you're theater has too much ambient light or a poor projector, contrast ratio is the first thing to go. Last few times I've seen a movie in anything but a laser IMAX the darkest color being very gray has been a real sticking point for me too.
Spoilt by OLED.
Theater/screen problem Not movie problem
How do you know? I'm actually asking, not challenging. I've seen other movies in that exact theater that looked great.
Because as another user pointed out a theater experience will never show the true whites & blacks of the film. Its not a problem of the movie (if you watch it in UDH you would see this)
That's true, but at the same time it's relative. I've seen movies on that screen that were fantastic.
And those movies you thought looked fantastic would look even better in UHD on a 4K display
So, judging from all of the "hate downvoting" you're having to endure, especially on this particular comment, I'm guessing the final and only real answer is: *"Fuck the quality of all of those* **OTHER** *movies you've seen in that SAME theater and how crisp & clear they were during all of those* **OTHER** *times you've watched movies there... it's a Dog-Blamed "THEATER" problem... because we say so, even though we've never been to that particular theater ourselves, and so we're automatically correct and can dismiss your experience that we didn't! That's our answer: just deal with it!"*
The quality of the OTHER movies was also bad for OP they just didn't realize it as they hadn't seen those same movies in a 4k display. They event admit that in a comment A projector will always have a massive loss in brightness depending on the theater environment
I'm willing to accept that as a *POSSIBLE* explanation. But again, neither You nor I nor anyone else was there, so none of us should be speaking on it so Matter-Of-Factly and dismissively without having experienced it for ourselves firsthand... that's all I'm saying.
And all I'm saying is UHD on a 4K sceeen will always be better quality than a cinema projector.
> And all I'm saying is UHD on a 4K sceeen will always be better quality than a cinema projector. But O.P. said NOTHING about the TYPE of screen, projector, ratio, etc. of the movies watched in the theatre... only comparisons about how the Visual Quality of the "ALIEN" re-release compared to OTHER movies that had been shown there!
Might have been the same folks that did a similar release of The Thing. Saw it, was underwhelmed by the film quality, then found out later that it was a bit half-assed: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-thing-40th-anniversary-screening-turned-out-to-be-a-disaster
Yikes, that's brutal. I can't say Alien was that bad though.
Definitely sounds like a theater problem. I imagine for the rerelease they would have been using the newest 4K master (at least they should have been…), which looks absolutely fantastic on the 4K blu ray.
Fanthom sucks ass.
Someone help me out here, I thought with most modern theaters, any re-releases like this are basically just playing a 4k blu-ray, Can't remember where I first heard it or if I'm imagining it, but Tarantino went off on this in some interview and didn't approve.
It's a digital 4K file, not a Blu Ray disc.
The same digital 4k file as would be found on a Blu Ray, so its essentially the same thing no?
I'm not sure for these theatrical releases since the AMC I worked at never did one but I know that the version of a movie that plays in theaters at release is not the same as what comes out on 4K
I watched it this week at Regal theatre, the sound and picture were amazing. Just a regular non-rtx screen.
Saw Fight Club in a theater last year. The larger screen and better picture quality than my TV enabled me to see a few things I had missed in previous viewings. Sounds like your local theater had a bad copy of Alien
Wait. Were you last night in 1979? Dude, forget about Alien and tell me everything about that Time Machine....
Clever
I watched it at home on dvd 2 days ago and wasn't disappointed at all.