Widescreen Weekend at The National Science and Media Museum

Korean Widescreen Cinema, Julie Andrews and multiple Dunes get the big screen showcase at The National Science and Media Museum this September. Indeed, the big screen seldom feels bigger than at Widescreen Weekend, which returns to the Museum’s Pictureville Cinema for 2025 with five-days dedicated to celebrating large format movies.

The event brings out film lovers of all stripes with a fine mix of popcorn entertainment, old school classics and intriguing esoterica presented as intended on the silver screen. Each year the cinema picks a film format to highlight utilising its unmatched set of projection equipment, and for 2025 there’s a focus on Todd-AO 70, a groundbreaking widescreen 70mm film format developed in the mid-1950s.

A high-fidelity alternative to CinemaScope, developed by theatrical innovator Mike Todd and cinema executive Robert Naify, in collaboration with the American Optical Company, Todd-AO became synonymous with prestige productions, but has undergone several revivals since its introduction. Widescreen Weekend celerate this heritage with screenings of classics such as Oklahoma! and The Alamo, in addition to more recent works including the original Mad Max and nineties cine-poem Baraka.

Included in the Todd-AO selection is the late David Lynch’s 1984 rendering of Frank Herbert’s Dune which is accompanied in the Widescreen Weekend programme by both parts of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptations, screening back-to-back in the IMAX. Fans of contemporary blockbusters will also want to check out Christopher Nolan’s popular Dark Knight trilogy, which also gets the marathon IMAX treatment as part of a late Friday night event.

Those with an interest in classic movie stars can look forward to a 90th birthday celebration of Julie Andrews featuring rare hits such as the musical Victor/Victoria and Hitchcock thriller Torn Curtain. There’s a spotlight on Jack Lemmon, again full of deeper cuts, including Billy Wilder’s Irman La Douce, alongside classic The Odd Couple, which famously pairs the actor with Walther Matthau. While the Pictureville cinema also shows off it’s Cinerama abilities (the venue is one of the few remaining in the world capable of properly presenting the format) with a selection of showcase screenings, including 1963’s The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm.

For those looking for a truly different film experience, there are treasures to be found in the seven-film Korean Widescreen Cinema strand

If you’re looking for a truly different film experience, there are treasures to be found in the seven-film Korean Widescreen Cinema strand. There are some big names here such as Park Chan-Wook’s cult revenge thriller Oldboy and Kim Jee-woon’s western The Good, the Bad, The Weird — both of which should be outstanding in the cinema. But cinematic adventurers will be excited to discover the likes of Shin Sang-ok’s lush, 1961 CinemScope folk romance, Seong Chun-Hyang or Han Hyeong‑mo’s Let’s Meet at Walker Hill, a 1966 comedy that captures the exuberance of the 1960s Seoul music scene.