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A few UK cinemas were showing the two short films "The Snowman" and "The Snowman and the Snowdog" in the run up to Christmas this year (presumably to mark its 40th anniversary?).
For those outside the UK who may not be aware of The Snowman, it's a TV short first aired in 1982, and has become a British classic that has been aired on TV every year since - except for 1984. It's a classic and everyone knows it, and is where the song "Walking In the Air" comes from. In 2012 they released a sequel "The Snowman and the Snowdog" - mostly retreading the same ground as the original, but with a more pop-y soundtrack - although keeping the themes and hand drawn animation style of the original.
I was very pleased to see that "The Snowman" was shown in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio - which has never had a HD release so far (only the letterboxed 16:9 Bluray is in HD). A shame it had the Mel Smith/Santa opening (which was 16:9), rather than the original Raymond Briggs one, but I suspect I'm being more picky than most here!
Sadly it wasn't well attended when I went, and by this I mean there was about 10 other people in the screening. I think everyone knows it will be aired on TV again this year, so there's little apatite to see it on the big screen. But it was worth it - the hand drawn animation looked stunning and you were able to pick out details that you hadn't seen before.
For those outside the UK who may not be aware of The Snowman, it's a TV short first aired in 1982, and has become a British classic that has been aired on TV every year since - except for 1984. It's a classic and everyone knows it, and is where the song "Walking In the Air" comes from. In 2012 they released a sequel "The Snowman and the Snowdog" - mostly retreading the same ground as the original, but with a more pop-y soundtrack - although keeping the themes and hand drawn animation style of the original.
I was very pleased to see that "The Snowman" was shown in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio - which has never had a HD release so far (only the letterboxed 16:9 Bluray is in HD). A shame it had the Mel Smith/Santa opening (which was 16:9), rather than the original Raymond Briggs one, but I suspect I'm being more picky than most here!
Sadly it wasn't well attended when I went, and by this I mean there was about 10 other people in the screening. I think everyone knows it will be aired on TV again this year, so there's little apatite to see it on the big screen. But it was worth it - the hand drawn animation looked stunning and you were able to pick out details that you hadn't seen before.