Animated British classic Watership Down getting cinema reissue in late 2024.
The animated British film Watership Down, which follows a group of rabbits on a perilous journey to find their own utopia, will return to cinemas later this year. It will be re-released in cinemas by BFI Distribution. A BFI home entertainment release in Ultra High Definition and Blu-ray will follow shortly afterwards.
The film has recently been restored in 4K by the BFI and Silver Salt Restoration. Watership Down will be in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from the 25th of October 2024. The new restoration will be first screened publicly at the World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival 2024, where it wibe screenedeen in the Treasures section, which spotlights new restoration premieres from around the world.
Following the theatrical release, a home entertainment release from the BFI on the 11th of November 2024 will present the film both in Limited Edition Ultra High Definition (UHD) for the first time and on Limited Edition Blu-ray, with a raft of extras including a set of 4 postcards, a poster and a bound book.
An adaptation of Richard Adams’ novel Watership Down, it was directed by Martin Rosen. “A building project threatens the tranquil lives of the wildlife residing in a British woodland area, not least the rabbits who reside in one of the local warrens. Littlest rabbit Fiver, who has a sixth sense, has distressing visions of destruction lying ahead and persuades a small group to join him on what is to be a challenging journey to safety in the halcyon location of Watership Down.” BFI Synopsis
The cast of British performers include John Hurt, Richard Briers, Ralph Richardson, Denholm Elliott, Roy Kinnear and Hannah Gordon. In addition to the film’s success, the song ‘Bright Eyes’, written especially by Mike Batt and recorded by Art Garfunkel, was a UK number one for six weeks. It was also Britain’s biggest-selling single of 1979.
