*To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” Universal Pictures is serving up a remastered 4K restoration that will hit theaters June 28.
Deadline writes, “the re-release will include one-week engagements as well as single-day showtimes June 30 at select AMC, Regal Cinemas, Cinemark, and Alamo Drafthouse theaters. There also will be 35mm screenings at select theaters in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin and Brookline, MA.”
“When Spike Lee’s revolutionary Do the Right Thing was released by Universal Pictures 30 years ago this June, it ignited a national conversation on race and race relations in America that challenged our assumptions about ourselves and our country and heralded the arrival of a generation-defining filmmaker,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution.
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EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is marking the 30th anniversary of Spike Lee’s incendiary and still-topical #DoTheRightThing with a remastered 4K restoration that will hit theaters June 28 https://t.co/VpH5oKYOWl
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 7, 2019
The story takes place on the hottest day of the year in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, and racial tensions are growing around the only local businesses; a Korean grocery and Sal’s Pizzeria. The cast of character includes Mookie (Lee), Sal (Danny Aiello), Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson), Tina (Rosie Perez), Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and Pino (John Turturro).
Lee earned an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for the film, and Aiello earned a Supporting Actor nom.
“In the decades since [Do the Right Thing], Universal has released six of Lee’s most unforgettable films including Crooklyn, Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever and Inside Man,” Orr said. “And last year, NBCUniversal’s Focus Features released Lee’s acclaimed BlacKkKlansman, which earned Lee his long-overdue first Academy Award. Universal is honored by Lee’s enduring relationship with the studio, and we are thrilled to re-release his masterwork Do the Right Thing with this extraordinary new restoration.”
The Criterion Collection will also drop a Blu-ray/DVD release on July 23 in honor of the 30th anniversary featuring the new 4K restoration.