Paramount, like most Hollywood studios, did not create a preservation program — “asset protection” in industry parlance — until the home-video boom of the 1980s proved film libraries could have indefinite, lucrative lives.
— From Stephanie Argy’s detailed, technical feature on the recent restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy by Robert A. Harris, Joanne Lawson and the team at Motion Picture Imaging. The original negative elements were in such disarray that it took a full 12 months to complete the restoration.
