‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ to premiere for a second time in 4K

To celebrate the science fiction film’s 40th anniversary, Sony Pictures has taken “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and remastered the movie in 4K. The updated director’s cut is set to show in U.S. and Canadian theaters for one week (starting September 1). The classic Sci-Fi film will also have a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Venezia Classici section.

The classic hit movie ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the Stephen Spielberg film was originally released back in December 1977 and did exceptionally well at the box office, bringing in $303 million worldwide, while the budget was a mere $20 million.

The movie also nabbed the special achievement award for sound effects editing and best cinematography among the eight Oscar nominations it received. 1977 was a great year for science fiction, as it was in that year that “Star Wars” made its first appearance in theaters.

Basic plot of the remastered ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’

The film stars a very young Richard Dreyfuss, who plays Roy Neary, a line worker in Muncie, Indiana, who is one of two people that witness an amazing flyover by a mysterious flying object. The second person is Melinda Dillon’s character, Jillian Guiler, a single mother.

As per the title, the film outlines three different kinds of UFO close encounters. The first was when Neary and Guiler experienced the flyover. The second close encounter related to physical evidence of aliens, where Neary suffers a facial burn from the bright lights of the flying saucer. In Neary’s case he is mysteriously drawn to a wilderness area where he believes something very important is about to happen.

This leads to the close encounter of the third kind, which was, naturally, direct contact with extraterrestrials and everything that devolved from it.

Parallel story in 'Close Encounters'

As noted by IMDb, there is a lot more to the movie, as it actually involves two parallel stories.

The second story is about a group of research scientists investigating the mysterious appearance of certain objects in various locations. As their investigation continues, one of the scientists, Claude Lacombe, played by François Truffaut, uses what is known as the Kodály method of music education (remember those haunting tones from the film?) as a means of communication. The researchers receive a response to their musical message which is at first confusing, but eventually a cartographer, David Laughlin (played by Bob Balaban) finally deciphers its meaning.

With no further spoilers, the updated trailer for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is included below. Enjoy watching the film for a first, second, or maybe even third time in theaters starting September 1.