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Going w-a-y back to the late fifties early sixties, there were tons of cinemas where I lived in West London, & about a third of them were independent, they'd just show old movies. When I say old movies, that would be anything from films that did the rounds a year earlier, to films of the thirties. I don't remember any of us being bothered about the date of a film, I saw the first two Tarzan movies as a double bill. King Kong, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, just tons of movies. Some of these cinemas used to show a horror double bill on Sunday only, so coming up to the mid-sixties I was able to catch the Hammer films & American International films that I'd been too young to see. I remember sitting in a near empty cinema watching a great double of, Tales Of Terror/The Pit & The Pendulum, & I caught up with all the Hammer's I'd missed, great stuff like, The Curse Of The Werewolf, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Terror Of The Tongs. But around the mid-sixties, disaster, all these cinemas started closing down (well they couldn't have been making much money), but being the mid-sixties in London, there was a lot more happening, so I didn't miss them too much. I now have my own independent cinema, my small lounge & my DVD's & Blu-rays...& I'm watching the same films!
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After the success of Star Wars, theaters were running a double feature of The War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide billing it as "The two films that started it all".
I saw also saw that double feature.
Theatrical reissues have pretty much died out with the video age. Disney used to be the most prolific reissuer but now their reissues are limited to 3-D or IMAX re-renderings. Likewise with Paramount (TITANIC), Universal (JURASSIC PARK), and Fox (STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 - THE PHANTOM MENACE).
In the last few decades there have been re-releases of GONE WITH THE WIND and THE WIZARD OF OZ. There was a 20th Anniversary re-release of GREASE in 1998 and a 10th Anniversary re-release of DIRTY DANCING in 1997. Other films have been reissued after restorations: A STAR IS BORN (1954), SPARTACUS (1960), MY FAIR LADY (1965); VERTIGO (1958), REAR WINDOW (1954), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), and ONE FROM THE HEART (1981).
In the early 1970s, I saw re-releases of IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD MAD WORLD (1963), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), CAMELOT(1967), and THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1965). There also were early 1970s double feature re-releases of the 1960's Bond films and Eastwood's "Dollar" films, in various combinations.
In 2007 there was a limited re-release of BECKET.
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In 1971, I saw this double feature reissue of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1967) and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970).
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Following George Lazenby's ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969), United Artists paved the way for Sean Connery's return to James Bond in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) by re-releasing in 1970 this double feature of THUNDERBALL (1965) and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967).
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A few months before the release of 1971's ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, 20th Century Fox re-released the first two films of the series, PLANET OF THE APES (1968) and BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) in a well-remembered double bill.
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I remember Hammer re-released She & One Million Years BC as a double feature. I still enjoyed She, but found BC a bit of a bore the second time around.
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In 1974, with FRENCH CONNECTION II (1975) already in production, Fox re-released the original THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and what was at the time its putative sequel, THE SEVEN UPS (1973).
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In early 1975, with THE ENFORCER (1976) ready to begin production, Warner Bros. re-released the first two "Dirty Harry" films, 1971's DIRTY HARRY and 1973's MAGNUM FORCE on a double bill.
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After Diana Ross' second film, MAHOGANY bombed in 1975, Paramount gave it another chance in 1976, on a re-release double bill with Ross' initial success, LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972).
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In 1979, Paramount re-released on a double bill its John Travolta musical hits of the late 1970s--SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977) and GREASE (1978).
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In 1979, United Artists re-released the last two Pink Panther films that Peter Sellers appeared in prior to his death--REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER (1978) and THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1976).
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In 1978, Columbia Pictures released Bruce Lee's final film, the cobbled-together GAME OF DEATH, which stoked interest in the late martial arts star to its highest level since his death in 1973. In 1980, Columbia acquired the rights to Lee's first two films--1971's FISTS OF FURY (The Big Boss) and 1972's THE CHINESE CONNECTION (Fist of Fury)--and re-released them on a double bill.
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eld
