Darren Aronofsky is one of the most visually inventive directors to emerge in his generation, so it seems like many of his works could look magnificent and immerse the viewers further on an IMAX screen, like The Fountain and Black Swan. But his 1998 debut, Pi – which had a budget of just $134,815 – will be the next to get the treatment.
In a new interview, Darren Aronofsky said, “When I sold the film at Sundance in 1998, I fought really hard that the filmmakers would get the movie back…They didn’t really want to do it and they were like, ‘Fine, we’ll give it back to you in 25 years.’”
With the 25th anniversary approaching, it seems everybody has been good on their word, no matter how strange it is to put a 16mm film on IMAX. As far as the process goes of bringing such a low-budget film to one of the largest screens imaginable, Aronofsky said, “We’ve been actually scanning the negative at 8k, and we are working on an ATMOS mix and polishing it up… Back then, it was all photochemical… There was no digital work on it. It’s just wild to see how much the technology has changed, the form has changed. It’s just such a different world. I mean, the film was mixed in stereo. There wasn’t even surround sound for music. It’s just such a different form of technology.”
Pi is about “a paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.”
Darren Aronofsky previously released 2014’s Noah on IMAX.
Pi will come to IMAX on March 14th, 2023 – and yes, that is Pi Day.
What do you think about Darren Aronofsky’s Pi getting the IMAX treatment? Will you go see it? Which Aronofsky movie could better benefit on IMAX? Let us know below!
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