MovieChat Forums > Paul McCartney & Wings - Rockshow (1981) Discussion > 134 minutes in the UK but 141 minutes in...

134 minutes in the UK but 141 minutes in the USA

posted 11 years ago by jmroche1972
4 replies | jump to latest

I noticed someone at imdb.com had updated the running time in the USA for the re-release version of Rockshow to be 134 minutes instead of the official 141 minutes that the official Rockshow website had listed. The only explanation I can think of is that Rockshow runs at 28 frames per second in the UK while here in the USA films like Rockshow are normally run at just 24 frames per second which probably explains why the running time is at 141 minutes here in the USA and that it is 134 minutes in the UK. As far as I know, nothing has been edited out of the prints of Rockshow shown in the UK so the frames per second differences can be the only explanation for the running time differences. However, another running time difference is the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Rockshow where the running time is just only 139 minutes. So it's hard to tell at the moment which running time is right or wrong.

[–] neil-476 11 years ago

Pretty sure UK cinema projection is also at 24fps.

It may refer to DVD/Bluray, where TV is at 25fps.

[–] jmroche1972 11 years ago

As I had said before, someone at imdb.com had updated the running time from the official Rockshow's website of 141 minutes to 134 minutes. Where this person got the 134 minute running time I do not know. I had only assumed the person who posted the change saw Rockshow in the UK where, like you said, Blu-Ray, DVD and video speed varies to that in the USA. In most theaters worldwide, Rockshow is being shown in either a Blu-Ray or a DCP digital projection format and not in 35MM film projection. Tonight, I will be seeing Rockshow in NJ and I will verify what the correct running time really is, at least here in the United States.

[–] WarpedRecord 11 years ago

So now that you've seen it, can you confirm that the U.S. version is 141 minutes?

I know video speeds vary with the different formats, but seven minutes seems like an awfully big difference for a film that's two hours and change. At a certain point, doesn't this also affect the sound of the music, where faster speeds have a higher pitch?

[–] johnston.scot 11 years ago

Film (as in, the old-fashioned stuff that goes on big reels and they show in theaters) is standard worldwide at 24 fps.

Standard video is 30 fps (or, to be more precise, 29.97, usually) in the US (NTSC) and 25 fps in England (PAL). In each case, it's half the frequency of the mains AC electrical power. When they transfer to a particular video format, they adjust the frame rate. The formats are different in ways other than frame rate, so it's not like you could just play an NTSC recording on a PAL machine anyway.

There are a variety of formats available in the digital era (e.g. progressive and interlaced), as digital players are more capable of handling multiple formats. In any case, any properly-designed player should show a properly-encoded recording at the correct frame rate.