{"id":540547,"date":"2026-07-09T06:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540547\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T06:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:42:19","slug":"rare-star-wars-attack-of-the-clones-70mm-imax-footage-preserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/540547\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’ 70mm IMAX footage preserved"},"content":{"rendered":"

When George Lucas<\/a>\u2018 \u201cStar Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones<\/a>\u201d was given an IMAX 70mm<\/a> release in the fall of 2002, audiences saw a different version of the movie than what had been seen before \u2014 or would ever be seen again. Due to the format\u2019s space limitations at the time \u2014 IMAX<\/a> 70mm film<\/a> platters would only hold two hours of celluloid \u2014 the movie was cut down by about 20 minutes, and the entire movie was reframed from the 2.40:1 aspect ratio of the original release to a Lucas-approved 1.81:1 designed to take maximum advantage of the IMAX screen.<\/p>\n

Footage from the 1.81:1 version of \u201cClones\u201d hasn\u2019t been seen since the 2002 IMAX release. When filmmaker V. Trent came into possession of an IMAX 70mm trailer for the film, he knew he had something special. \u201cPresumably due to the heavy restrictions from Lucasfilm Ltd. in 2002, the IMAX feature prints of \u2018Episode II\u2019 are now nonexistent,\u201d Trent told IndieWire. \u201cTo have a visual archive of the 1.81:1 IMAX aspect ratio is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a> \"The<\/a> <\/p>\n

Trent was further astonished to realize that the print he had acquired was an un-projected theatrical safety print. \u201cBecause this reel was an uncut, unprojected backup spare, it completely bypassed the wear, tear, and toil of commercial theater projectors,\u201d Trent said. \u201cThe silver halide emulsion is in a completely virgin, factory-fresh state, meaning the digital data and color science captured on these frames are an exact, mathematically perfect match to the master file. Because Lucasfilm strictly mandated the total destruction of these exhibition reels, this virgin laboratory safety copy is an incredibly rare archival survivor that practically shouldn\u2019t exist today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"'Star<\/p>\n

Trent became aware of what he had when he started rolling the film and going through the leader and came across the control chart instructions. \u201cA control chart (or LAD \/ CineCheck strip) is a pre-exposed strip of film containing precise gray scales and color patches,\u201d Trent said. \u201cLab technicians splice these charts into the front of a film run to calibrate the laboratory\u2019s printing machines and chemical baths. Because my leader tape is completely uncut, it proves the technicians never needed to slice this reel apart to insert a control strip. It was printed, hand-checked against the master source, signed off, and stored away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that the leader confirmed Trent\u2019s suspicions that this was an unprojected safety print, he realized that it would be risky to send it through the standard industry scanning system for digitization. \u201cThat way of preservation<\/a> risked my print being scratched, losing quality due to the light used for capturing frames, and loosening the sprocket holes,\u201d Trent said. When he decided against this method, Trent came to the conclusion that if he wanted to create a new 4K master, he would need to go through the painstaking process of capturing every single frame manually with photography.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used a completely darkened-out room with only a single bright backlight behind the print and a camera in front,\u201d Trent said. \u201cFor about three days, I went frame by frame and captured individual frames of my gorgeous IMAX reel. Even with my naked eye, the resolution of the IMAX DMR printed image was absolutely breathtaking. Every single grain of sand, lightsaber glow, and the details in Yoda\u2019s skin were impeccable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"trailer\u2018Star Wars<\/a> Episode II: Attack of the Clones\u2019V. Trent \/ Lucasfilm Ltd.<\/p>\n

The footage from the print and its front-end leader resulted in 983 individual frame captures. \u201cEvery so often, I had to reposition the print and camera to achieve the best centered and in-frame capture I could take,\u201d Trent said. \u201cFollowing every individual frame capture, I loaded the high-res 4K HDR images onto my editing computer and went through an even longer period of going through all 984 captures and cropping every individual frame, one by one, to be as perfect as they could be. That was the most excruciating, but rewarding, part of the process. When all the frames were cropped to the best of their ability, I imported them into my edit suite and retimed them to run at 24fps, creating the magical illusion of movement and bringing this lost piece of cinematic art back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"'Star\u2018Attack of the Clones\u2019 IMAX release posterLucasfilm Ltd.<\/p>\n

Now, Trent hopes his scan can serve as a visual reference for the fans and that he can loan his IMAX 70mm print to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for display. \u201cMy first-ever moviegoing experience happened to take place in an IMAX 70mm film theater,\u201d Trent said. \u201cThe format, and the filmmakers like Christopher Nolan who have pioneered the true IMAX 70mm film format, greatly inspire me. So, to have contributed to the format in an independent fashion, in any form, has been my great privilege and honor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When George Lucas\u2018 \u201cStar Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones\u201d was given an IMAX 70mm release in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,1043,61,91627,60,270,3950,2140,30447],"class_list":["post-540547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-ie","tag-imax","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-preservation","tag-star-wars","tag-top-of-the-line"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}