A lesser-known film that arguably captures Prince at his best musically will be screened next month in the biggest movie theaters nationally.
The 1987 concert film “Sign o’ the Times” has been digitally remastered and will show anew on IMAX screens starting Aug. 28. Its rerelease was announced Tuesday in partnership with the Minnesota rock icon’s Chanhassen-based studio-turned-museum Paisley Park Enterprises.
Among the Twin Cities theaters scheduled to show the movie in IMAX are AMC outlets at Southdale in Edina, Rosedale in Roseville and Eden Prairie Mall. Each of those theaters currently has it scheduled once per day over four days, Aug. 28-31. Tickets to those screenings and others across the country are now on sale via imax.com/prince.
“Now, enhanced with IMAX’s precision surround sound audio, customized theatre geometry, and crystal-clear images, Prince’s virtuoso performance is set to mesmerize fans old and new in the most epic format available,” reads the press release from IMAX and the movie companies Mercury Studios and FilmRise.
Named after the critically acclaimed double album with the same title — which many critics and fans rank as his best record (yes, even over “Purple Rain”) — the “Sign o’ the Times” movie was filmed on tour in Europe and at the sound stage at the then-brand-new Paisley Park. The performances feature an expanded version of the Revolution band with Sheila E. on drums and vocals, dancer/rapper Cat Glover (who passed away last year) and a horn section.
Among the songs performed in the movie are “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man,” “Housequake,” “U Got the Look,” “The Cross” and the grimly topical but ferociously funky title track. The film was previously rereleased (without the remastering) in 2017 in partnership with Showtime, which aired it.
Getting into the big-screen IMAX theaters is still a big deal for musical acts, and this one is another sign Prince’s star power hasn’t diminished in the nine years since his death. Other recent movies to hit IMAX screens of late include Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense,” “Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii,” “Queen Rocks Montreal” and “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
