‘The Thing’ Theatrical Release from Fathom Events Was a Disaster But They’re Making It Right for Wednesday Night

John Squires

Fathom Events brought John Carpenter‘s The Thing back to the big screen for the film’s 40th anniversary beginning this past Sunday, with more screenings set for Wednesday, June 22. The two-night event drew a ton of interest from horror fans who have never before experienced Carpenter’s masterpiece in theaters, but things didn’t exactly kick off on the greatest note.

Brought to our attention by filmmaker and horror champion Mick Garris, Sunday night’s screenings from Fathom Events were a disaster, the film – for starters – presented in the wrong aspect ratio. Garris tweeted, “I just got back from seeing John Carpenter’s masterpiece at the Fathom Events 40th anniversary screening at the Universal Citywalk AMC… and I will never EVER see a Fathom Event again, and I recommend that you avoid them like the plague.”

“FIRST of all, the film was shot in the 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, but was shown in 1.85:1, literally cutting out a third of the film,” Garris continued in his multi-tweet thread. “The picture was soft-focus, low-resolution, and the digital image was out of registration, so all objects were rimmed in red on one side, and blue on the other. Also, all movement all the way through the movie stuttered, like trying to watch Netflix with a really bad wifi signal.

“Fathom Events and the theaters that run them should be ashamed of themselves, and the outrageously low-quality programs they run. This could have been an amazing time revisiting one of the classics on the big screen and share it with an enthusiastic audience. The power of Carpenter’s genius movie carried us through, but I remain disgusted by this ripoff.”

So what went wrong here? To make a long story short, Fathom was not provided with a Digital Cinema Package for their theatrical showings of The Thing this past Sunday, the film instead being shown up on the big screen in 1080i. This has been a long running problem with Fathom Events screenings, as you never know ahead of time what quality you’re getting.

Twitter user @Kolpitz, who runs a movie theater, explains in a thread of his own, “In order to deliver that content they basically use two different types of technology, with wildly different results: a Dish Network DVR or a DCP (digital cinema package). The DVR is just what you think it is. Content is beamed in to a Dish Network box, where it’s recorded to a DVR and later broadcast onto a 25′ screen in 1080i. A DCP is a standard format for delivering digital movies to the big screen and is how all non-film theaters play movies these days. It is either delivered as 2K or 4K, but with significantly higher bitrates and file sizes than a standard or 4K Blu-ray.”

The good news? Thanks to the tweets from Garris and others, Fathom Events is actually making things right, announcing that Wednesday night’s showings will be presented in the proper aspect ratio. @Kolptiz explains, “Fathom / Universal have heard your complaints! They are sending a DCP of The Thing for Wednesday night’s show. It should be in the proper aspect ratio now, and will probably be 4K to boot.”

In their own statement, Fathom Events promises, “We are aware that the recent showing of The Thing wasn’t shown in its original aspect ratio & the disappointment it caused. Wednesday’s event will be shown in the proper aspect ratio.”

You can get your tickets for the Wednesday night (June 22) showings now.

If you’d like to learn more about what went wrong and how Fathom Events is making it right, browse the three aforementioned Twitter threads below, which are incredibly informative.

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