‘The Brutalist’ is only broadcast in 70 mm in three Spanish cinemas. Two of them are in an unlikely city: Zaragoza
‘The Brutalist’, one of the premieres of the yearreaches Spanish screens with its 10 Oscar nominationsbut it does so in a very special way: from a week before, in Zaragoza, where it is also being seen in 70 mm format. An unusual decision that is usually reserved for large capitals, but in this case it has given an unusual privilege to the city. Early release. To start, the winner of three Golden Globes It was seen a week earlier in Zaragoza: it premiered on Friday, January 17, while it hits theaters in the rest of Spain on the 23rd of the same month. Furthermore, he did it that Friday with a special pass: at the Palafox Cinemas, with Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Eduardo Torres-Dulce and Inocencio Arias, members of the radio program ‘Cowboys de Medianoche’, directed by Luis Herrero, and who maintained a discussion with the spectators at the end of the screening. Only three in Spain. But not only that: the film is shot in VistaVision, a widescreen format owned by Paramount and not used since the 1961 classic western ‘The Impenetrable Face’. This means that the best format to be enjoyed is 70 mm, and that only three cinemas are equipped to project in Spain: Phenomena and two cinemas in Zaragoza, Palafox and Aragonia. Nolan went first. The format is, therefore, ideal for watching ‘The Brutalist’, a film with a very careful image, since the 70 mm. They offer up to three times the resolution than 4K (reaching a digital equivalent of 12K), and stand out for their excellent brightness and sharpness. It is not the first time that Zaragoza, along with Barcelona, has become an icon of screenings in traditional formats: Christopher Nolan films such as ‘Interstellar’ or ‘Oppenheimer’ have also been seen almost “how he would like it“. “Almost” because the format Nolan plus ultra It is the 70 mm IMAX, and for this there are no cinemas in Spain. But the 70 mm. Analogues are a good approach for which Zaragoza is prepared. The man from Zaragoza. Behind these cinemas is Francisco J. Puig, owner with his Zarafilms group of a third theater in the Aragonese capital, the Cervantes cinemas. At the Palafox they started their projections in 70 mm. in the complicated times of the pandemic, as told by ‘The Herald‘, precisely with a screening of Nolan, ‘Tenet’. A bet that, over time, has ended up configuring the city as a center of film pilgrimage from other parts of Spain. Medium-sized cities also exist. The case of this exceptionality in the Zaragoza exhibition puts the problem of the quality movie theaters outside big cities. However, the drop in collections After the pandemic (which is being noticed worldwide, but in countries like Spain it has had a special impact) it has especially affected cinemas in medium-sized cities or, of course, in rural areas. Often, entrepreneurs like Puig and his resistance to abandoning the traditional film business are a small-scale reflection of the drama of exhibition in Spain, which in 2024 was especially affected by a very little collections. In Xataka | The IMAX technology used in ‘Oppenheimer’ is overwhelming. But it depends on a 20-year-old Palm Pilot
