A U.S. Debut for Branagh's 'The Magic Flute
After Kenneth Branagh's film production of Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" was shot in 2006, it was released around the world—but it couldn't find a U.S. distributor. Since then, however, institutions like the Metropolitan Opera in New York have developed a successful business model for opera broadcasts in the U.S., pulling in thousands of opera lovers nationwide for live broadcasts and limited screening events.
Revolver Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based film distributor, hopes to capitalize on this newfound opera audience when it presents the U.S. debut of Mr. Branagh's "Magic Flute" with Emerging Pictures, which serves a network of theaters. On Sunday and Tuesday, the film will appear on about 160 American movie screens and be released on DVD, Amazon and iTunes. (For locations, go to http://www.magicflutemovie.com)
The English-language film falls into an unusual category because it is an opera created specifically for the screen. Set during World War I, the $27 million production uses computer-generated imagery and surreal sequences to enhance the fantasy inherent in the opera, which was originally performed in 1791. "We wanted a movie of 'The Music Flute' with everything the cinema can bring," Mr. Branagh said.
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Though typically sung and spoken in German, this libretto was adapted in English by the writer and actor Stephen Fry. It follows the original story, in which the Queen of the Night requests that Tamino, and his fellow traveler Papageno, rescue her beautiful daughter from the clutches of the supposedly evil Sarastro. Mr. Branagh said he chose the World War I setting because the epic scale of the conflict resonates with the opera's battle between the forces of darkness and light. Soldiers Tamino and Papageno take a personal journey from innocence and ignorance to knowledge and self-realization. "It's a period in history that I find so unbearably moving. It represents this crossover and passing into the 20th century," Mr. Branagh said.
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