June
3
Things Universal Lost in the Fire
A memo went out Monday from Paul Ginsburg, Vice President NBC Universal Distribution, to Universal customers who were expecting delivery of prints from the studio:
It is with great sadness that I must inform you that yesterdays fire destroyed nearly 100% of the archive prints kept here on the lot. Due to this we will be unable to honor any film bookings of prints that were set to ship from here. Over the next few weeks and months we will be able to try and piece together what material we do have and if any prints exist elsewhere. For the time being please check your rental confirmations and look under shipping instructions. If the print was set to ship from the studio then you date is now canceled. If the shipping instructions say ship from Deluxe then those dates are still good.
L.A.'s American Cinematheque, for example, was able to retrieve several prints for its upcoming Aero Theatre booking this weekend from a Universal holding depot that was not affected by the fire. The Cinematheque will be able to get most of its upcoming scheduled prints from Deluxe. But Universal could not supply the 35 mm release print for a July booking of Weird Science, said director Barbara Smith, who had to cancel the showing.
While word from the lot is that no archival source material was damaged, and everything that was lost is replaceable, going forward the studio will have to do inventory on what was lost and what they will need to replace--and how--and at what cost, which could be considerable. There are complex questions of negatives, internegatives, interpositives and archival matrices, to use some arcane language of folks who know something about these things.
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