To celebrate Michael Jackson’s birthday leading into Halloween, IMAX has decided to give the King of Pop’s groundbreaking music video Thriller the IMAX treatment. IMAX and Jackson’s estate are partnering to digitally re-master Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D in IMAX 3D for the first time. Per the press release, the exclusive engagement will run for one week only, beginning September 21st in domestic IMAX theatres—ahead of showings of Amblin’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls.
The press release continues:
In creating Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D, which had its world premiere at the 74th Venice Film Festival, the original iconic short film, directed by John Landis and written by Landis and Michael Jackson, was not reedited or recut in any way. Optimum Productions brought Landis in and together they supervised an elaborate and labor-intensive process that began with the original 35mm film negative from Michael’s archives and resulted in a 3D conversion of the acclaimed film using the latest available technology. Additionally, all of the audio, including Michael’s music, Elmer Bernstein’s score and sound effects, were adapted to 5.7, 7.1 and Atmos standards in order to create the highest quality audio experience for in theater viewing.
This sounds like a fun and smart way to re-release Thriller to a younger audience that may have never seen it, and also to an audience that will like the PG-scares the music video entails. Rather than putting the music video as a standalone thing, it’s now a way to draw people out to see The House with a Clock in Its Walls, and both projects should benefit from Thriller’s inclusion.
In case you’ve never seen Thriller, we’ve included the music video below, but it should be a joy to check it out on the biggest screen possible next month.