'Scarface' To Make One-Night-Only Return To Theaters

Get ready to say "Welcome back" to the bad guy.

It's incredibly rare that an updated remake ever eclipses the original it emulates, but once upon a time almost 30 years ago in 1982, Brian De Palma's update of the 1932 Howard Hawks-directed gangster classic "Scarface" did just that.

To mark the occasion, a whole new generation can spend one night only getting acquainted with Al Pacino's iconic Tony Montana on the big screen when Fathom Events brings the modern classic back to 475 AMC theaters in remastered, high-definition presentation on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m., just about one week before it makes its Blu-Ray debut on Sept. 6.

"Almost 30 years after its initial release, 'Scarface' remains iconic and stirs passionate responses from audiences around the world," said a Fathom representative. "Now, fans can experience 'Scarface' like never before in theaters with spectacularly updated visual and sound quality, and never-before-seen elements in a historic, one-night event."

An interesting footnote to this: this is a historic re-release in part because the last time someone pushed to get De Palma's "Scarface" back into theaters, it was actually one of the dumbest ideas in the storied history of dumb movie ideas.

You see, kiddos, though it was critically lambasted during its initial theatrical run, De Palma's "Scarface" reached iconic status among rappers who probably didn't even realize it was a remake and were evidently too dense to comprehend that it's a cautionary tale, and essentially elevated Montana to hero/martyr status.

Sorry, hip-hop fans: your heros idolize somebody whose antics got him a hole the size of a basketball shotgun-blasted through his back. That's not deep. It's just dense.

In any case, Universal once decided in 2003 to have numerous rap artists record a completely new soundtrack to replace Giorgio Moroder's original, '80s-appropriate synth and New Wave score that became almost as emblematic of the time and place of the story as Montana himself. Fans en massed said "f*** that noise" and De Palma refused to edit it if Universal actually let that bunch of jack-holes run wild and taint his vision.

So, of course, that never happened - marking one of the few times in recent Hollywood history when a studio actually backed off doing something its bosses knew was remarkably stupid.

For more information on tickets and participating theaters, visit FathomEvents.com.