How to Watch a Longer Cut of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘The Hateful Eight’ Two Weeks Early

Even if you don’t understand the exact technical intricacies of 35mm, 70mm, and various digital formats, you should trust the filmmakers you love not only know them, but truly care about the difference the production and exhibition method makes for you, the paying customer. People like Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, and Quentin Tarantino don’t just care about what medium they shoot their films on (though in the case of all three, it happens to be film), they also care about how people actually see those movies.

And just as Nolan and Paramount did with Interstellar, Tarantino’s next film The Hateful Eight, shot entirely on 70mm (which provides for a much larger image), will be getting a release in theaters that can still play films on 70mm two weeks before it plays anywhere else. However, there’s another very noteworthy but previously unreported aspect to this advanced release. It won’t just be a bigger image you see thanks to the 70mm, it’ll actually be a longer movie, too.

Tarantino tells Variety the 70mm version of the movie will be 12 minutes longer than the later, digitally-released version that most multiplexes will get. Half of that runtime will actually be taken up by an old-school overture and intermission that the 70mm cut will have, but the remaining six minutes will be footage that’s missing entirely from the digital versions, which includes not just the multiplex version, but the one that will inevitably play on cable down the line.

This isn’t just Tarantino being spiteful, though, and withholding the best bits as ransom so that people see it in 70mm. He knows those who want to see it on the bigger, more illustrious format are also the kind of people who are willing to go out of their way for a special experience. These kind of moviegoers are more inclined to appreciate the longer takes that make up those extra six minutes of material.

Tarantino knows that the digital audience for The Hateful Eight probably wouldn’t care, and that while these “big long, cool, unblinking takes” work best in 70mm, that doesn’t mean it’ll be the case later. He further clarifies “It was awesome in the bigness of 70, but sitting on your couch, maybe it’s not so awesome. So I cut it up a little bit. It’s a little less precious about itself.”

If you’re worried about your ability to see this 70mm release of The Hateful Eight, you may be relieved to know that this will be an even wider release than Interstellar and The Master. The Weinsten Company’s plan is to bring the movie to at least 100 theaters that can still play 70mm film. 

The Hateful Eight hits select theaters in glorious 70mm on December 25, 2015. It will open in non-70mm theaters on January 8, 2016.