Large Format/"Premium" Theaters (IMAX 15/70, Digital IMAX, XD, ETX, RPX, etc.)

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

There are fewer than five IMAX venues with the new laser projectors.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...hnology-785806

There's only two so far according to the article.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

There's only two so far according to the article.

Some of the information about Canadian IMAX venues is difficult to find. Canada is IMAX's home country; dunno why there's so much "secrecy" about it.

[Scorpion Soldier]

Disney has extended their deal with IMAX through 2017.

We’re excited to announce a multi-picture deal with The Walt Disney Studios! The agreement includes live-action and animated tentpole releases from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm - beginning this year through 2017.

New releases include:

Rogue One
Star Wars: Episode VIII
Marvel’s Ant-Man
Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War
Marvel’s Doctor Strange
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok
Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory
Disney Pixar’s Toy Story 4
The Finest Hours
Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass
The Jungle Book
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The list definitely has something for everyone from animated films to some of our favorite superheroes. Comment below to share which film you’re most excited to see! Also stay tuned for more information on each film’s IMAX® release.

Great to see Marvel is retaining their IMAX release schedule, as well as Lucasfilm's Star Wars and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.

Note that the Spider-Man reboot in 2017 isn't part of this deal, but it's propably on Sony's end since they're handling distribution.

[BozQ]

Here's a terrific interview with IMAX CEO, Greg Foster as he talks about the IMAX with Laser brand, the new ARRI Alexa 65 camera and very briefly about the new 12.0 surround sound.

http://collider.com/imax-laser-proje...s-greg-foster/

[jscoggins]

Well, if they can fill the Giant IMAX screens, that's wonderful. It's kinda goofy when they show windowboxed movies with black bars on all four sides.

[Dubstar]

having just seen 'Age of Ultron' in IMAX-laser and 12-channel sound - I'm completely sold - the sound upgraded to play to the sides, behind you, and over the listener is IMAX uping the game for wider sound imaging something that is lacking once you've heard Atmos in action (IMAX was wise to upgrade to multi channel sound sourcing) - the use of the center height speaker is also used to astounding effect.


http://collider.com/imax-laser-proje...s-greg-foster/[/QUOTE]

interestingly the IMAX presentation of the new laser system at the Smithsonian's Air & Space Udvar Hazy IMAX screen also showed the Star Wars teaser in 2D and 3D - personally I wasn't impressed.

I'd love to resee 'Gravity' 'Jurassic Park' 'Oblivion' remixed to 12-channel sound.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

having just seen 'Age of Ultron' in IMAX-laser and 12-channel sound - I'm completely sold - the sound upgraded to play to the sides, behind you, and over the listener is IMAX uping the game for wider sound imaging something that is lacking once you've heard Atmos in action (IMAX was wise to upgrade to multi channel sound sourcing) - the use of the center height speaker is also used to astounding effect.

I'd love to resee 'Gravity' 'Jurassic Park' 'Oblivion' remixed to 12-channel sound.

Which location? The Chinese in LA?

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

having just seen 'Age of Ultron' in IMAX-laser and 12-channel sound - I'm completely sold - the sound upgraded to play to the sides, behind you, and over the listener is IMAX uping the game for wider sound imaging something that is lacking once you've heard Atmos in action (IMAX was wise to upgrade to multi channel sound sourcing) - the use of the center height speaker is also used to astounding effect.


http://collider.com/imax-laser-proje...s-greg-foster/

interestingly the IMAX presentation of the new laser system at the Smithsonian's Air & Space Udvar Hazy IMAX screen also showed the Star Wars teaser in 2D and 3D - personally I wasn't impressed.

I'd love to resee 'Gravity' 'Jurassic Park' 'Oblivion' remixed to 12-channel sound.[/QUOTE]

Oh hey, you're Jonathan on Facebook, right? You were replying to my comments on the Dolby page.

[Poya]

IMAX's new surround sound is still far inferior to Atmos because it's still regulated to a fixed number of channels while Atmos is limitless in its number of speakers since it doesn't feature a fixed number of channels.

Plus, even with IMAX's new laser projectors, the films still need to go through their awful DMR remastering, so the color timing will be altered and the DNR, EE, and other issues will still be present. Again, Dolby's new cinema sounds far better, with their dual 4K laser system being capable of HDR and higher contrast than IMAX's lasers.

[Geoff D]

The whole point of DMR is to uprez smaller film formats to 15/70, hence all the noise reduction to reduce the grain and sharpening to make it pop a bit more, not to mention you're seeing something a few print generations away from the original on 15/70. (Still, I've seen plenty of DMR'ed movies on 15/70 IMAX and some looked good, some not so good.)

A digital DMR for the 4K system will bypass the photochemical steps so I would hope that IMAX will stop using such aggressive mastering techniques. If they stood out on 15/70 then 4K laser will be incredibly unforgiving.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

Which location? The Chinese in LA?

The Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia.

Originally Posted by BozQ

Oh hey, you're Jonathan on Facebook, right? You were replying to my comments on the Dolby page.

oh that's funny, guess we are...

Originally Posted by Poya

IMAX's new surround sound is still far inferior to Atmos because it's still regulated to a fixed number of channels while Atmos is limitless in its number of speakers since it doesn't feature a fixed number of channels.

Plus, even with IMAX's new laser projectors, the films still need to go through their awful DMR remastering, so the color timing will be altered and the DNR, EE, and other issues will still be present. Again, Dolby's new cinema sounds far better, with their dual 4K laser system being capable of HDR and higher contrast than IMAX's lasers.

have you seen either? IMAX's new system while displaying Avengers 2 (as well as the 6 minute presentation of 'Tomorrowland'), has inky blacks, no EE and ample light brightness to properly achieve 3D pop and depth. The last Harry Potter film looked terrible and way too dark in 2K DCP, the IMAX (15/70) while DMR'd, looked ten times better with the brightness amped to get the 3D imaging to work.

I was at a demo for the new laser system and was shown the Burj Khalifa skyscraper Dubai scene from 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol' in it's original 4:3 IMAX shot aspect ratio - and the image was pretty spot on to the 15/70 presentation I saw at the same theater.

As to the sound, sure, it's discrete but in the case of the movie, sound in the right mixer's hands and ability placed sounds in very interesting locations - phantomed center rear and the height center channel conveyed height in the frontal realm - the voice of the computer seemed to emulate all around you in several instances.

and don't get me started as to why many IMAX patrons sit nearly at the back of the auditorium - yes a 86' x 62' screen is huge and you want to see as much of the screen as possible but for Hollywood 2.35 films - it's completely unnecessary - and you can't even properly hear the side and ceiling speakers

Originally Posted by Geoff D

The whole point of DMR is to uprez smaller film formats to 15/70, hence all the noise reduction to reduce the grain and sharpening to make it pop a bit more, not to mention you're seeing something a few print generations away from the original on 15/70. (Still, I've seen plenty of DMR'ed movies on 15/70 IMAX and some looked good, some not so good.)

A digital DMR for the 4K system will bypass the photochemical steps so I would hope that IMAX will stop using such aggressive mastering techniques. If they stood out on 15/70 then 4K laser will be incredibly unforgiving.

the only film that looked truly hideous DMR'd by IMAX was the 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' - ugly conversion, the image looked like the movie was shot with cheesecloth over the lens.

[Dubstar]

slight rant and confusion over a new theater in Ashburn Virginia - Starplex Loudoun Station Luxury Cinemas 11 - so you create a brand new complex and a speciality 'IDX' screen (70ft by 45ft wide, 3D, High Frame Rate) yet it isn't outfitted to playback Atmos, Auro or even DTS-X ... that just doesn't make sense, at least it can playback 7.1 features.

[BozQ]

What AR was Avengers 2 projected in IMAX with Laser?

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by BozQ

What AR was Avengers 2 projected in IMAX with Laser?

2.35 on a 4:3 screen.

[Dubstar]

I don't get why we haven't heard ANY news from any other theater chain than Carmike about the rollout of DTS-X theaters, or even what the first film will be released as such:

Carmike 15 (Columbus, Ga.)
Carmike Movies ATL 278 (Atlanta, Ga.)
Chapel Hills 13 (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Rosemont 18 (Rosemont, Ill.)
Thoroughbred 20 (Franklin, Tenn.)
Thousand Oaks 14 (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Valley Bend 18 (Huntsville, Ala.)

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

2.35 on a 4:3 screen.

You mean 1.43 screen?

[Geoff D]

Close enough.

[BozQ]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

I don't get why we haven't heard ANY news from any other theater chain than Carmike about the rollout of DTS-X theaters, or even what the first film will be released as such:

Carmike 15 (Columbus, Ga.)
Carmike Movies ATL 278 (Atlanta, Ga.)
Chapel Hills 13 (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Rosemont 18 (Rosemont, Ill.)
Thoroughbred 20 (Franklin, Tenn.)
Thousand Oaks 14 (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)
Valley Bend 18 (Huntsville, Ala.)

Hmm. I do have some comments, but I'm not sure if this is the right thread to discuss it.

[Scorpion Soldier]

Been known for a while, but an official press release from IMAX about the AR of Tomorrowland, which will be expanded to 1.90:1 for IMAX theaters.

Check Out Tomorrowland’s Expanded Aspect Ratio Exclusively in IMAX®

Tickets are on sale for Tomorrowland! The mystery adventure stars George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and Britt Roberston. The film follows former boy genius Frank (George Clooney) and an optimistic teen (Britt Roberston) on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of a curious place only known as “Tomorrowland”.

What’s even better? The film has been specially formatted exclusively for IMAX® theatres. Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland will fill more of the IMAX screen at 1.9:1 aspect ratio. What this means is that the film will show up to 16% more of the on screen image. So if you’re watching a scene with say, a mountain in the background - the expanded aspect ratio will allow you to see 16% more of that mountain.

Wondering how we make that happen?

Aspect ratio is the technical term for the proportional relationship between an image’s width and height. Most films are presented in an aspect ratio called CinemaScope (2.40:1) which is why they appear very wide but not very high.

We provide filmmaker with the ability to use an expanded aspect ratio - allowing them to use more of the original image. Moviegoers are then able to experience 16% more of the image than standard cinemas.

In the end, watching a film with an expanded aspect ratio provides you with a full panoramic view that fills your peripheral vision more than any other cinematic experience. That’s why, when you watch an IMAX movie, you feel immersed in the movie. Get your IMAX tickets for Tomorrowland today and see for yourself! Tomorrowland will be playing in IMAX theatres May 22.

http://www.imax.com/community/blog/c...ively-in-imax/

Have we gotten an official word on the AR for Jurassic World yet? All the trailers I've seen for it have filled the entire IMAX (digital) screen.

[jscoggins]

The real question is if Brad Bird will opt for the IMAX ratio on BD as well.