How can films be re-released later in a higher resolution?

Question

I can understand how movies can be released at higher resolutions a short time after original release, like a couple years. But I’ve seen some movies get released a whole decade later in *MUCH* higher quality than the original release. Like, how does something released in the 90’s or 2000’s get a 4k UltraHD release now?

In: Technology

Answer 1

So, film stock, what old movie cameras used, was actually very high definition in how it recorded the action. We just didn’t have the technology at the time to display it in the full resolution. So if an old movie’s original film reels are still intact, they can be scanned by a computer and all of that high definition resolution can now be used.