When Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk opens next Thursday, they will once again be fighting on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets. But they won't be fighting in The Astor.
Despite being one of the few cinemas in the country that retained its ability to screen 70mm celluloid while others were rushing to rip their projectors out, The Astor has been rocked by a decision by distributor Roadshow to deny it the right to screen the film in the specialist format in its first weeks of release.
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Trailer: Dunkirk
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada and France are surrounded by the German army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
The decision is particularly galling for the venue given writer-director Nolan's strong advocacy for celluloid projection in general, and 70mm in particular.
"We're gobsmacked," says Arabella Daniel, secretary of Friends of the Astor, the lobby group that helped save the venue from redevelopment in 2012.
![Christopher Nolan (left) directs Kenneth Branagh on the set of Dunkirk.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171023215407im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/9/t/5/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxafaq.png/1500531003225.jpg)
"The film is set in 1940, the Astor was built in 1936. All fingers point to the Astor being a first choice, so we're struggling to understand. We think Christopher Nolan would be very disappointed."
The Astor is primarily a repertory cinema, showing older films or new releases later in their run (usually five or six weeks after the multiplexes), but it has previously hosted first-release runs of the 70mm versions of movies such as Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Inherent Vice.
In January 2016, the 1000-seat single-screen cinema did better business with the 70mm version of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful 8 than any other venue in Australia, with more than 12,000 admissions. In scenes reminiscent of its origins as a 1930s picture palace, queues ran around the block nightly over its run.
"Obviously, with Nolan being such a huge advocate for 70mm, we thought it was a foregone conclusion it would be here," says Astor general manager Zak Hepburn.
![Fionn Whitehead as Tommy in the film.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171023215407im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/9/s/x/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxafaq.png/1500847887636.jpg)
"It's really disappointing because I feel the Astor has a really unique outlook on things – it's the only screen, the only thing showing, it's a unique event. It feels like we're being rolled over a little bit."
While the St Kilda cinema won't be getting its hands on a print, The Sun in Yarraville (an independent cinema) and the Rivoli in Camberwell (operated by Roadshow's exhibition arm, Village) will. So, too, will IMAX at Melbourne Museum.
![The histroic Astor Theatre has made 70mm screenings a key part of its offering.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171023215407im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/h/j/i/5/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxafaq.png/1500098414967.jpg)
In fact, IMAX has taken the extraordinary step of re-installing the 70mm film projector it removed in 2015, amid great fanfare over its transition to laser digital projection. The reason? "One word," a spokesman for the cinema says. "Nolan."
The creator the Dark Knight trilogy says of Dunkirk, which tells the tale of the evacuation of more than 300,000 British troops from France in June 1940, that "the entire film is large-format photography", and "most of the film is [shot in] IMAX".
![Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard and Fionn Whitehead in a scene from Dunkirk.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171023215407im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/9/8/l/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxafaq.png/1500531714556.jpg)
Melbourne's IMAX cinema boasts that it is one of only 37 theatres in the world that will screen Dunkirk "as Christopher Nolan intended" (that is, in the IMAX 1570 format, on celluloid). It will also screen the film digitally.
The Rivoli and the Sun will show the film in its "standard" 70mm celluloid version, the same as The Astor uses.
The conspiracy theorists might suggest that Roadshow is denying the Astor access to Dunkirk's first run in order to protect its box office at the Rivoli and the Jam Factory, just a couple of kilometres down Chapel Street (and where the film will not be shown in 70mm format).
But the company's official response gave nothing away.
"Each film requires its own unique distribution strategy and Dunkirk is no different," a spokesman said. "We have been delighted by the immense interest in Dunkirk and the 70mm release in a limited number of cinemas forms a component of the release strategy."
Christopher Nolan was approached for comment for this story but did not respond.
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