When it comes to watching a movie in theaters, a bigger screen is the better screen. Fans are often willing to go great lengths to secure the biggest screen possible; we live in a time where tickets for 70mm IMAX screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey sold out a year before the movie even premieres, while directors have been making tutorial videos to explain all the formats their features are available in. Now, one of the most acclaimed horror movies ever made is getting a large-format release, but you’ll have to wait until there’s a little more chill in the air.
Get ready to hear the famous line, “Here’s Really Big Johnny.”
IMAX has announced that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining will be re-released in IMAX beginning on December 12, a fitting date for the movie’s wintry setting. Kubrick’s 1980 film, based on Stephen King’s novel, follows writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) as he accepts a position as winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, bringing his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd) to spend the season there alone. But the hotel is not what it seems, and Jack soon finds himself under its strange influence.
The Shining is one of the most iconic and influential horror movies of all time, and even spawned a 2019 sequel, Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, also based on a King novel. The Shining has also had renewed relevance in recent weeks, as the HBO prequel series It: Welcome to Derry, another King adaptation, has introduced a younger version of Richard Hallorann, the elderly man in The Shining who recognizes that Danny shares his telepathic powers.
The mid-December premiere date is perfect for a movie set during a blizzard.
This will be the first time The Shining has ever been shown in the IMAX format, but you’ll have to act fast. There will only be a small window of time to see it, as Avatar: Fire and Ash takes over IMAX screens when it arrives on December 19. The Shining may not be taking advantage of the Halloween season (Sinners is doing that instead), but this winter-madness saga will be perfect for the doldrums of mid-December, when things start to feel like all work and no play.
