4K Restoration/1962/Kingu Kongu tai Gojira

2008 Hi-Vision Transfer

• 2008 transfer was "created at Tokyo Laboratory, using a Cintel C-Reality telecine recording directly to HDCAM tapes"
• Japanese version appears on Disc 8 of Criterion's 2019 GODZILLA: THE SHOWA ERA (1954-1975) Box Set
  • Note from Criterion's Jon Mulvaney: "The Japanese-release version of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA is being presented as a supplemental feature as received from a pre-existing Toho HD digital master. We are working closely with Toho on this release and the 4K remaster you're referencing was not something that was provided to us for this."

2014 Blu-ray

• Toho's 2014 Blu-ray release has a newer transfer with some but not all restored footage
  • "I finally found "3 rolls of Kingoji's cuts"
  • but "I didn't have the roll 1 part... But I had to get this out, so I was told that I would just blow up the DVD image and release it... . "

2016 4K Restoration / Digital Remaster (4Kデジタルリマスター)

• "The total number of negatives is 10 volumes. The film, which had a total length of about 8800 feet, was manually repaired, and 4K digital scan was performed for each frame by ARRISCAN. Scanning at 4K is about 2 frames/second, and the data per frame is about 50 MB. Grading is performed with Quantel Rio 4K, and in addition to screening of 4K projectors, playback is performed with a professional master monitor and home 4K TV to check the color adjustment. Restoration to restore film scratches, dirt, dust, splices, fading marks, etc., one frame at a time is completed using 4K compatible film restoration software such as MTI's Nova, Digital Vision's Phoenix, and HS-ART's DIAMANT. I am making it. For audio, the stored 4-channel stereo cine tape data is restored and adjusted for use."
• "when I scan a negative, it's in a state called "LOG." This LOG is like capturing all the information contained in the film. So, if you make the dark part brighter, you can see the details...I also shoot the bright part with the details visible when I sunk it a little, so the range of color adjustment is tremendous. It's wide, so even if it's a video, you'll be able to see where you couldn't see it by scanning the LOG and adjusting the colors from there.”
• The Tokyo Development Laboratory restore team created 12 missing frames
  • Yoshinori Kato, Chief of Restoration Group
  • Jun Yamashita, Colorist
• "so the biggest feature of this restoration is "a sense of unity" anyway. It can be said that "King Kong vs. Godzilla" has finally become "a movie"
• "About 10 people took about 3 months to finish"
  • "He was able to reproduce even the parts that were not visible on the film, such as the sweat of the characters."
  • "I could see the piano wire (which moves Godzilla). On top of that, while removing scratches and dirt this time, the "technique" of the time, such as the piano wire, was left intact."
• "the negative film of "Roll 1", which had been missing for a long time, was discovered, and a project to completely reproduce the full-length version"
  • "made a "lost frame" by referring to the previous and next frames with digital technology, and worked to connect the movements"
  • "The stereo 4ch cine tape miraculously remained, and I was able to reproduce the stereo sound."
• "24 minutes were cut when the shortened version was created, and the film that had been lost for a long time was discovered this time, making full use of the latest digital technology to restore it. It revived on the screen for the first time in 54 years as a remastered version."

More links

• June 27, 2016 - Naofumi Higuchi's Thousand and One Thousand Nights 64th Night "King Kong vs. Godzilla <4K full version>"
• June 30, 2016 - Half a century ago "King Kong vs. Godzilla" Carefully restored and cleared 4K digital remastered version

2016 Broadcast on Nihon Eiga Senmon Channel (Japanese Movie Specialty Channel)

• May 8, 2016 - "KING KONG VS. GODZILLA" 4K REMASTER SHOTS Teaser Compares Old Master & New Restoration!
• June 1, 2016 - "King Kong vs. Godzilla" restored in 4K. July 14 4K broadcast
• June 1, 2016 - "King Kong vs. Godzilla" 4K digital remaster full version broadcast, special screening in Shinjuku
• June 3, 2016 - Complete version of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" in 4K... Broadcast & screening decided in July
• @pasinpasin tweets about KKvG

2016 Tokyo International Film Festival Screening

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DCP Screening in Japan

• 2019-05-25 - "King Kong vs. Godzilla 4K Digitally Remastered Edition" (1962)

Ultra HD 4K Blu-ray Release

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