The 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival is from April 24-27 and will present screenings of VistaVision film prints using projectors installed at the TCL Chinese Theatre in IMAX. This is the first time since the 1950s TCM has screened films using VistaVision, and two films will be shown: We’re No Angels (1955) and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).
If you’re wondering, VistaVision is a widescreen format that Paramount introduced in 1954 as an alternative to 20th Century Fox’s CinemaScope. It works by shooting the film negative horizontally, meaning each frame spans the width of two standard 35mm frames. This is different from the normal 35mm shooting style, where the film strip runs vertically through the camera. With a larger negative area, VistaVision films are remarkably sharper, more detailed, and have less grain – making it one of the highest quality film formats ever.
VistaVision set a new standard for widescreen filmmaking, becoming the ideal format for large-scale epics, musicals and pioneering visual effects in Star Wars (1977) and other milestone SFX films. VistaVision was rarely projected horizontally despite its technological superiority, and TCM is giving audiences the very rare opportunity to experience these films the way they were meant to be: on the big screen, in full clarity, and with Perspecta audio. This year’s festival is the first time both films have been projected using VistaVision for theatres.
