The History of 70mm Film in Cinema

There's something in film stock everyone recognizes but cannot always explain. Even today, we still happen to see modern movies shot on 70mm film, and they don't look vintage. They just look organic. In this short documentary, you will go down memory lane and see how the 70mm film was invented.

If you think curved displays are a modern innovation, you are terribly wrong. A few decades back, there were movies projected on curved theater screens, and it's said that the experience was unbelievable. You may wonder what curved displays have in common with 70mm film stock. Michael Todd was the co-founder of the unusual filming and curved screen projection technology, called Cinerama. Unfortunately, the Cinerama movies involved a very complex, expensive, and laborious process, which made them highly impractical.

After his resignation, Todd created a new company that invented the 70mm film stock as a replacement and an improvement of the former technology. Today we still enjoy that gorgeous media thanks to directors who embrace it. That type of film today can't be compared to anything we have, because even if you shoot in 8K, the film is projected in 2K in most theaters. But if you have a 70mm film and projectors for it, it is like watching 12K organic footage in its full glory.