‘24 Hour Party People’ Returns to UK Cinemas in 4K, and the Cast Reunited in Manchester to Launch It

Steve Coogan has called 24 Hour Party People “the work that is closest to my heart,” per NME, and on Tuesday night (Oct. 6) he went back to Manchester to prove it. He and director Michael Winterbottom were joined by Kieran O’Brien, John Thomson, producer Andrew Eaton and Paul Popplewell for an anniversary screening that opened a city music and media conference, NME reported. A Q&A with Coogan, Winterbottom and Eaton followed, and Christopher Eccleston and Rowetta, who played herself, walked the red carpet.

The occasion is the film’s return. A remastered 4K version opens in cinemas across the U.K. and Ireland on Friday (Oct. 9), after 100 free screenings at independent cinemas, and it reaches digital and 4K UHD disc on Oct. 26. It is the film’s 24th anniversary: the 2002 comedy follows Granada TV presenter Tony Wilson, played by Coogan, who founded Factory Records in 1978 after a Sex Pistols gig and signed Joy Division, Happy Mondays and A Certain Ratio, per NME’s interview with Winterbottom. The Haçienda, the club Factory co-owned with New Order, is rebuilt on screen.

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Winterbottom told NME the starting point was Factory’s attitude, and that making it felt different from his usual sets.

It was a celebration of the music, a celebration of Manchester.

Michael Winterbottom, NME

The soundtrack leans on the Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays strand. On the last night of filming at the recreated Haçienda, New Order performed as DJs, and Winterbottom remembers that night as “totally chaotic.” Peter Hook had helped the design team in pre-production by pointing them to original instruments. Watch the trailer for the re-release below.

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE | Official Trailer | Returning to Cinemas October 9Altitude Films · Watch on YouTube ↗

The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2002, and Coogan admits it still gets to him. “I feel very sentimental about it all,” he said, per NME, “which Tony Wilson would have deplored.”