We are of the opinion that the film should be properly restored again in 4K from its original camera negative (even if the original capture method was flawed) and its original 4.1 (encoded as 5.1) sound mix should be able to easily be expanded to Atmos or 5.1/7.1 without the use of AI technology.
While the director and sound mixer are happy with that restoration, we are now able to go far beyond what was accomplished at that time.
Do they still retain the negative to allow for a true 4k restoration? If that’s the case then I agree.
The original filmout negative is safely housed. The digital files used to create it in the defunct software “Pixibox” were not archived so the only record is the imperfectly rushed and slightly-damaged filmout.