Paramount Home Entertainment Celebrates The 50th Anniversary Of Producer Robert Evans' Chinatown With The Debut Of A 4K Ultra HD Edition On June 18

Paramount Home Entertainment announced this past week that the long, long, long awaited 4K Ultra HD debut of Chinatown, which will take place on June 18, is finally over.   Take note, that’s within two days of being the 50th Anniversary of the film’s theatrical debut on June 20, 1974.

The timing is perfect!

If it were not for The Godfather Part II being released theatrically in 1974 and winning the Oscar for Best Picture, the default would have been Robert Evans’ production of Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski.   There is no doubt about that.

Evans, for all of his faults, was gifted when it came to picking movies to produce when he was the head of production at Paramount Pictures.   Among these gems — either as the head of production or as a producer himself — were Rosemary’s Baby, True Grit, Love Story, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Save the Tiger, The Conversation, Urban Cowboy, Players … and more. 

Every “Hollywood” studio head today, right now, needs to start looking for the next Robert Evans … just recycling superhero movies isn’t working.   Robert Evans produced movies that audiences wanted to see, but sadly the current crop of studio production heads don’t quite measure on that score.

So, what does Paramount have in store for us on June 18 when the 4K Ultra HD edition of Chinatown streets?

For starters, we have three newly-prepared featurettes — “A State of Mind: Author Sam Wasson on Chinatown,” “Chinatown Memories” and “The Trilogy That Never Was.”

Also included is a vintage commentary from screenwriter Robert Towne (who began, as so many filmmaking greats, under the tutelage of the legendary Roger Corman), who is joined by David Fincher. 

Towne was hotter than hot at this point in his career, scoring Oscar nominations for The Last Detail (1973), Chinatown (winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) and Shampoo (1975)!!

Also — from the archives — are five featurettes — “Water and Power,” “Chinatown: An Appreciation,” “Chinatown: The Beginning and the End,” “Chinatown: Filming” and “China: Legacy.”

And one last bonus … included with this 50th anniversary celebration of Chinatown is a Blu-ray companion disc featuring producer Robert Evans’ 1990 film, The Two Jakes, written by Robert Towne and directed by Jack Nicholson.   In a word: SWEET!