Disney has dropped the teaser and a new poster for the 20th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige," and the film is officially dated for January 29, 2027. It'll play in 70mm and, for the first time ever, IMAX — with 35mm and digital 2D showings also on the menu.
Nolan told THR back in July that they'd be doing 70mm blow-ups from Wally Pfister's 35mm anamorphic photography. He screened a print to check it and called the cinematography "just extraordinary.” He also praised Nathan Crowley's production design and said Bale's work here is among the most underrated of his career. Hard to argue with any of that.
"The Prestige" remains one of Nolan's best films. Its smaller scale lets the characters and atmosphere breathe. It's one of the rare Nolans where the machinery doesn't swallow the people.
Adapted from Christopher Priest's novel, the film follows two rival magicians in Victorian London, Hugh Jackman's showman and Christian Bale's purist, whose friendship turns into a lifelong war after a trick goes fatally wrong. Sabotage, stolen secrets and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla follow. The less you know, the better.
This is a film that’s been quietly climbing for years. In our Nolan critics poll, conducted this year, with over 180 critics participating, it landed at #4. Furthermore, 5,000+ fans on the Nolan subreddit also had it at #4. Not bad for a movie that made $109M worldwide against a $40M budget, snuck in between "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight."
The timing of the re-release makes sense. "The Odyssey" just became the highest-grossing IMAX release ever, pulling in over $289M from IMAX screens alone. Nolan's "Interstellar" IMAX re-release did strong business in 2024. A re-release for his most underrated film was inevitable.
Funny enough, January 29 is also the date A24 just set for Jeremy Saulnier's “Slayground," which got its first trailer today. Two very different reasons to head to the movies that weekend.
This latest batch of images makes it all the more baffling that, with the film barely five weeks from release, we still don't have an official poster, nor have we gotten a full-course trailer.