The Invaders From Mars 4K Restoration gets a new trailer

Ignite Films will initially release the 4K restoration of Invaders From Mars in US/Region 1 on September 26, and will roll-out the release worldwide, excluding the UK, where Arrow Films will distribute. The Big Pieces Company is supporting the release in the US and overseeing international sales.

Invaders from Mars was filmed from a child’s point of view, using exaggerated sets and upward angles. It became a modern classic and was also one of two early 50s classic alien-invasion science fiction films (the other is Robert Wise’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still”) reflecting Cold War tensions, the Red Scare and paranoid anxiety typical of many  films in the 50s.

Invaders from Mars (1953) is a starkly stylish Sci-fi tale told from a pre-adolescent boy’s point of view, as he alone witnesses the invasion of aliens who capture and brainwash residents of an average small town. Young David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is convinced that his normal suburban neighborhood has been invaded by strange creatures, especially when his parents come home acting like zombies. Nobody believes him. Things get stranger until somebody finally believes: Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) and astronomer Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz). Stuart takes David seriously and informs them that prominent scientists have theorized that Martians, who live either underground on Mars or in giant spaceships, have manufactured synthetic humans called Mutax. Stuart speculates that Martians have come to Earth because local scientists including David’s father, have constructed a rocket that will eventually pave the way for a devastating weapon that could control the solar system. Stuart postulates that the Martians will attempt to destroy the rocket and alerts Col. Fielding at a nearby military installation. Fielding notifies the Pentagon and soon massive numbers of men and tanks begin to mobilize toward David’s small town.

“We’re grateful to finally complete the 4K restoration of the sci-fi classic Invaders from Mars after a lengthy search for the final elements,” said Jan Willem Bosman Jansen, Director, Ignite Films.

“We needed the elements to fill in the gaps in the original camera negative, which was stored with great care at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. We are so grateful to the George Eastman Museum and National Film and Sound Archive of Australia for supplying the necessary elements and cannot wait to share the completed product with fans world-wide,” added Bosman Jansen.

The long-awaited restoration of William Cameron Menzies’ classic sci-fi thriller Invaders from Mars is now available for pre-order! The restoration of Invaders from  Mars has been much hoped for and a long time coming — but the process was not an easy one. Leading the effort was longtime enthusiast and preservationist of classic cinema Scott MacQueen, who previously was head of preservation at UCLA Film & Television Archive for more than a decade, before retiring last summer.

The biggest challenge for MacQueen was that the color negative confirmed for printing in SUPERcineCOLOR lacked many shots and needed to be sourced from 70-year-old prints. Artist and Illustrator Laz Marquez is Creative Director, leading the creative vision of the release, including key artwork and packaging.

You can now pre-order the restored sci-fi classic, which will be released on Blu-ray & 4K UHD on September 26, 2022, just ahead of the film’s 70th anniversary.

Bonus Features

• In UHD, extra HDR treatment
• Restored 4K trailer
• Newly commissioned artwork including an exclusive poster by Creative Director Laz Marquez
• Featurette of interviews with star Jimmy Hunt, William Cameron Menzies’ biographer James Curtis, Restoration Supervisor Scott MacQueen, acclaimed film director Joe Dante, recollections of Menzies’ eldest granddaughter Pamela Lauesen, and more to be announced
• Before/after clips of restoration – original negative and archival film elements
• Restored segments in 2K of the Alternate International Version
• Gallery with original Press Book pages, behind the scenes photos from the restoration process
• Twenty page extensive essay on the restoration process: “Invaders From Mars: A Nightmare of Restoration” by Scott MacQueen