Prince fans will soon have another chance to purify themselves in the waters of Lake Minnetonka — and those waters will be clearer than ever before.
On March 5, Warner Bros. Discovery and Dolby will re-release “Purple Rain” for one night, exclusively in Dolby Cinemas. The film will be presented in Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dolby Atmos immersive audio. The picture and sound quality will exceed even the 40th anniversary version 4K disc released in May 2024, whose transfer was restored digitally from an 8K scan of the 35mm camera negative. Although that disc was color graded in HDR, it was subsequently translated to meet the presentation standards of Dolby Vision Cinema.
Check out this video, which showcases the difference in color and clarity of the picture:
As important as the pictures captured by director Albert Magnoli is the sound of the performances by Prince and the Revolution, The Time and Apollonia 6. The film’s audio was previously also restored for home video from original Dolby Stereo archived 35mm magnetic film sources containing the separate dialogue, music and effects (DME) tracks.
However, Warner and Dolby created a brand new audio presentation for the Dolby Atmos Cinema format that merges the original restored elements along with a 5.1 multi-channel mix master first assembled for the 20th anniversary of “Purple Rain.”
Prince’s “Purple Rain” is one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time, earning $70 million upon its initial release and making the Minnesota native an overnight superstar. As indicated above, it’s been celebrated upon multiple anniversaries, and since Prince’s death in 2016, the film has become even more vividly characterized as one of the defining works of his career. It’s a singular cinematic experience — even within the artist’s filmography — so getting to see the film on the big screen with the best possible picture and sound is a special treat.
“Purple Rain” will be screened at all Dolby Cinema at AMC Theatres locations throughout the U.S. and Dolby Cinema at Odeon locations in the U.K.
