Steven Spielberg’s Restored ‘Schindler’s List’ Gets Limited Theatrical Release

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Universal Pictures will release a restored version of Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” on Dec. 7 for a limited theatrical engagement to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its opening.

“Schindler’s List” follows the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, played by Liam Neeson, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The film has been remastered in 4K, Dolby Cinema, and Dolby Atmos. Spielberg supervised the restoration from the original film negative.

The film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for Spielberg. It also won Oscars for composer John Williams, screenwriter Steven Zaillian, director of photography Janusz Kaminski, art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn, and producers Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen, and Branko Lustig. It was also a strong box office performer with $320 million worldwide.

Spielberg shot “Schindler’s List” in black-and-white over 72 days in Poland with the goal of giving the film the look and feel of a documentary. Schindler was a German businessman and a member of the Nazi Party, who saved the lives of mostly Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. Ralph Fiennes starred as SS officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler’s Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.

The Library of Congress selected “Schindler’s List” for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2004. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on its list of the 100 best American films of all time.