IMAXout | Hollywood in HiDef

Real Steel real deal at IMAX

October 11, 2011 By Scott Hettrick 1 Comment

“Real Steel” may be susceptible to criticisms of a sappy story that borrows from every Rocky-type movie from “Karate Kid,” “The Champ,” and “Iron Giant,” to several installments in the Rocky series itself, but that didn’t make the formula any less appealing to a new generation of young boys and their fathers this past weekend, especially at IMAX theaters.

The DreamWorks Pictures release distributed by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures was not only far and away the #1 movie of the weekend with $27.3 million in the U.S., it also pummeled its way to $3.2 mil. on 270 IMAX screens, according to IMAX, which is more than 12% of the overall domestic gross and, according to Hollywood.com Box Office, a September/October record at IMAX theaters.

The movie, set about 15 years in the future and featuring an irresponsible father (Hugh Jackman) and his estranged but precocious son (Dakota Goyo) struggling to build a new relationship while building a robot that becomes an unlikely champion of bot boxing, generated a total of $4.4 mil. at IMAX theaters worldwide, including $1.2 mil. in 62 IMAX screens overseas where the movie grossed $22.1 mil.

Greg Foster, IMAX Chairman and President of Filmed Entertainment, said the forecast for the movie is especially strong since it has yet to open on nearly half of the overseas IMAX screens.

The script is way too precious, the movie way too long at well over two hours, there are way too many blatant product placements, and Goyo is nearly as melodramatic as Ricky Shroder was in the 1979 “The Champ,” but it’s clear why this movie appeals to that target demo, and Jackman and the robot action are both enough fun to keep parents and less discriminating audiences entertained.
And, of course, all of the large-scale boxing action looks even better on the large-format IMAX screen.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ 3D “Dolphin Tale” also appealed to the family audience with another $9.1 mil. as it swims towards $50 mil. in U.S. theaters.

Still another family film, this one also in 3D, “The Lion King,” clawed its way to another $4.6 mil. even after the release of the Blu-ray 3D version of the movie this week, roaring to a total of $86 mil.

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: IMAX news, IMAXout

Final Destination goes IMAX

August 6, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

After three installments, the “Final Destination” franchise found new life in 2009 when it exploited the new version of 3D as well as any film.

Now producers are kicking it up another notch by going big with IMAX 3D for the debut of Warner Bros.’ Pictures’ release of the New Line Cinema production of “Final Destination 5” on Aug. 12 in 223 domestic theaters and select international IMAX 3D digital theatres.

“Seeing Final Destination 5 in IMAX 3D will make this an entirely new experience for even the most die-hard fan,” said Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution Dan Fellman. “With the sheer size of the screen and the added intensity of IMAX 3D, this won’t be for the faint of heart.”

In “Final Destination 5,” the next series of grisly deaths forseen seconds in advance by an unsuspecting participant (Nicholas D’Agosto) hits a group of coworkers headed for a corporate retreat when a bridge collapses on them. The unwitting clairvoyant is able to save his friend (Miles Fisher) and girlfriend (Emma Bell) but because they have cheated death, they are constantly on the verge of a new form of disastrous death.

Steven Quale makes his directing debut from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer, based on characters created by Jeffrey Reddick. Producers Craig Perry and Warren Zide return for the fifth time, working with executive producers Richard Brener, Walter Hamada, Dave Neustadter, Erik Holmberg and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: IMAXout

Potter wraps great in 3D & record IMAX

July 14, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

After Warner Bros. Pictures had to scrap 3D on its penultimate “Harry Potter” episode last year, the studio and IMAX got it right this time with the finale “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,” opening in a record number of IMAX theaters this week and record advance ticket sales.

It’s the second major summer release in a row after “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” to offer 3D that provides a distinct visual value for attendees paying a premium for 3D on top of the IMAX premium ticket price, which is, as always, the best and most impactful way to enjoy movies, particularly of this visual caliber. While nothing pops off the screen like the dynamic 10-9-8… countdown of the IMAX pre-feature logo, there are plenty of scenes enhanced by the obvious depth between characters, backgrounds, and multiple elements in the shot.

This final “Potter,” guided for the fourth time by director David Yates, is far more entertaining and satisfying than the previous plodding Part One of this two-part installment. There are a surprising number of scenes played for laughs, which is a welcome relief, and the most unlikely of characters, Neville Longbottom, becomes the hero and gets one of the major roles of the movie. It also wraps up the series nicely with well-crafted appearances by all the major characters of the franchise, even those who have been killed, without dragging it into a bloated and self-indulgent three-hour curtain call like the final “Lord of the Rings. Rather than the bloated 2 1/2-hour running time of the last couple of Potter episodes, this one clock in at much more efficient 2-hours, including the book-following epilogue in which the three main characters are depicted in a happy ending 19 years after the big showdown between Potter and Lord Voldemort.

The movie debuts Friday, July 15, in a record 274 IMAX locations in the U.S., where it had garnered a record $8 million in advance ticket sales Tuesday, and opened Wednesday in some international markets. Globally, the movie will be playing in 395 IMAX theaters and grow to 423 over the following four weeks.

In order to meet the demand, many IMAX theatres have scheduled 3:00 a.m. shows, with multiple theatres featuring 24-hour showtimes for opening weekend.

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: 3Debut, IMAXout

Super 8 more super in IMAX

June 12, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

IMAX delivered a super opening weekend to “Super 8″ with $4.4 million (12% on just 239 screens) of Paramount’s weekend-topping overall $37 million domestic gross for the J.J. Abrams family thriller, according to Hollywood.com Box Office.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s 3D release of Dreamworks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 2,” featuring some the year’s most dynamic 3D images in a very cute , ranked fourth in its third weekend with $16.6 mil. for a domestic total-to-date of $126.9 million, and nearly $300 mil. worldwide.
Disney’s 3D movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” with very minimal 3D impact but a slightly improved entertainment value over the previous two episodes of the franchise, 3D has surpassed $200 mil. domestically and is closing in on $900 mil. globally after another $10.8 mil. in U.S. grosses.

“Super 8″ feels like exactly what it is, an homage to Steven Spielberg produced by a filmmaker who can create all the elements of his mentor but cannot match the underlying soul or substance of his idol.
But since even Spielberg has been unable to create films in recent years that match his own best work of the 1970s and 1980s, J.J. Abrams offers perhaps the closest thing we’ve seen in a couple decades. Abrams delivers, as usual, on the action and tension of another thriller involving an alien, all of which gets maximum effect from the out-sized IMAX visual presentation and sound system. Adding to the fun is a score full of 1970s pop songs that sound terrific in an IMAX auditorium.
Abrams even manages to evoke terrific performances from young child actors as Spielberg did so often, including a newcomer as his star, Kyle Chandler, and the talented Elle Fanning. And that’s worth paying to see, especially in IMAX, where everything is once again bigger and better, a key asset in a film as big and effects-laden as “Super 8.”

The film is like a best-of Steven Spielberg movie; there is nary a scene that doesn’t immediately remind you of another movie — oh, that’s just like “ET,” that’s a scene right out of “Close Encounters,” there’s “Poltergeist,” “Jurassic Park,” “War of the Worlds.” There are even direct comparisons to non-Spielberg films from “Stand By Me” to “Jeepers Creepers.”
If you liked those movies (and who didn’t?), you’re sure to enjoy “Super 8.”

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: IMAXout

Eye-opening Arabia via IMAX 3D

May 27, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

“Arabia 3D” represents the first major film production filmed entirely in Saudia Arabia, the first to feature aerial photography of some of the country’s mosques and world’s largest gathering of humans — 3 million Muslims in the annual hajj pilgrimage — and one of the few films to showcase the culture’s 2,000-year history that included a reign as the hub of the Islamic Golden Age featuring the development of algebra, optics, hospitals and the scientific method.

All this in 45-minutes, in giant IMAX, and in 3D, at the California Science Center beginning this weekend and running for several months.
And once again IMAX showcases 3D as it should be presented, creating a completely immersive experience to the point that you even feel as if the sand is blowing inches from your face.

<Story continues following the 3-minute video interview below with “Arabia 3D” filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, who explains why IMAX 3D is the only format getting 3D right.>

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Say Saudia Arabia to most people these days and they will think primarily of turban-wearing people riding camels and living in desserts counting their billions of dollars from the oil beneath the sand.
Others may think of Muslims and associate them with terrorists.

It was these one-dimensional stereotypes and misconceptions that people and businesses of Saudia Arabia, including oil companies, sought to change through a film that could paint a more layered and comprehensive portrait of the Arabian culture. Longtime IMAX filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, who directed photography for “The Towering Inferno” and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” before spending the next 35 years producing and directing spectacular and award-winning IMAX films such as “Everest” and “Grand Canyon,” accepted the challenge to spend four years on “Arabia 3D.”

The challenges included shooting in a country that has no cinema infrastructure and has not allowed cameras near most anything. And these were not ordinary cameras — they were extraordinarily large IMAX cameras with 3D that shoot only 3-minutes of film before requiring reloading.

The result is a movie filled with fascinating and enlightening historical and contemporary context and anecdotes as conveyed through narrators such as Helen Mirren and three contemporary citizens, including the most engaging one, a film student at Chicago’s DePaul University who is tracked as he returns to his homeland to make his own movie about the country.

While it can be a little slow and dry at times, no joke intended, the enormous amount of in-depth research that went into “Arabia” is clear and presented well, and the photography and 3D is stunning. That photography includes From multiple shots of camels doing that tri-fold thing with their legs every time they want to simply lay down; underwater 3D exploration of shipwrecks of the Red Sea; and ultimately the staggering shots in the holy city of Mecca and the masses of humanity winding through a circle of ceremony.

Everyone will learn a lot about the Arabian culture, and hopefully Hollywood mainstream filmmakers will learn how 3D should be produced.

– By Scot Hettrick

Filed Under: 3D Q&A, 3Debut, IMAXout, Video Gallery

IMAX 3D Wild vs Disney Cats

April 4, 2011 By Scott Hettrick 1 Comment

Every filmmaker and studio executive should be required to watch the Disneynature film “African Cats” (opening Earth Day, April 22) followed by a screening of the new IMAX 3D documentary “Born to be Wild” (opening Friday, April 8).

Scott Hettrick

Maybe then they will all understand what is missing from mainstream 3D films and what would make audiences feel they are getting their money’s worth from the premium price of a 3D movie ticket.

While the feature-length “African Cats” delivers impressive wildlife photography of adorable and intimidating lions and cheetahs, the 40-minute “Born to be Wild,” directed by David Lickley, is so much more engaging and memorable almost entirely because the orphaned baby orangutans and elephants spend a lot of time frolicking, snuggling, and swinging seemingly inches from us.
The two movies represent one of the best comparisons yet of the dramatic difference in impact between a good movie in 2D versus a good similar-type movie enhanced significantly when presented in the kind of 3D that only IMAX documentarians have been doing so well for decades.
There has yet to be a mainstream 3D movie produced that has had the in-your-face audience immersion of any IMAX 3D documentary, none of which rely on gimmicky shots yet take advantage of the opportunity to create a truly unique experience that fully exploits 3D technology without creating eye fatigue or distracting from the narrative.
It’s a mystery to me why mainstream Hollywood stubbornly resists this approach.
Disney even delayed indefinitely this year’s release of the 3D conversion of the French documentary “OceanWorld 3D.” The Disneynature franchise could benefit enormously and lead the innovation and consumer acceptance of 3D.

“Born to be Wild,” which follows the young animals from the rainforests of Borneo to the savannah of Kenya as they warm to their human rescuers led by primatologist Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas for several years before being rehabilitated and integrated into their natural habitat, is narrated delightfully by Morgan Freeman and presented by IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures on 207 IMAX screens domestically and at least 18 internationally.

– By Scott Hetrick

Filed Under: Hettrick, IMAXout, Max IMAX

Sucker Punch packs IMAX wallop

March 25, 2011 By Scott Hettrick 1 Comment

I was sucker punched by “Sucker Punch.”
Not being a big fan of action-fantasy movies in general or specifically Zack Snyder’s digital-heavy movies like “300″ and “Watchmen” (though I admired “Legend of the Guardians” fairly well), I was not expecting to like “Sucker Punch” much at all.

Boy, do I love finding out I was wrong and winding up enjoying a movie as much as I did “Sucker Punch.” And I have yet to regret going the extra mile to see the movie on a giant full-size IMAX screen. “Sucker Punch” was no exception — this is yet another that translates extremely well to the larger screen and superior sound system of IMAX.
The movie opens Friday (March 25) on 229 IMAX screens domestically and at least 78 IMAX screens internationally simultaneous with Warner Bros.’ release of the movie in traditional theaters.

For the first 15 min. – 20 min. of the two-hour film I was not having a good time, though the opening was not at all what I expected. While visually dynamic and interesting, it seemed like it was stylized exploitation, going for the lowest common denominator in starting out like a horror film with scenes of parental rape of a stepchild and then segueing into a setting at an insane asylum for young scantily-clad orphan girls who were being abused by an administrator acting as a pimp (the latter part in the vivid imagination of our protagonist).
Then it morphed into wild anachronistic fantasy mixing modern technology into settings with helicopters and zeppelins flying over medieval castles. The sexy helpless girls suddenly became super-humans, using huge swords and giant machine guns and leaping inhumanly high. They were never slowed for a second after being batted roughly against walls during epic battles with zombies, robots, and dragons. Battle scenes that seemed to blur World War I with World War II all intermingled with primary settings that seemed to be of 1950s era Americana.
Little of it was logical and the story seemed somewhat hard to follow at times.
Then, about the same time the first of many great songs in the movie was introduced — an ear-catching unlikely version of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” sung by star Emily Browning (off-screen, gratefully not in musical style like “Moulin Rouge”) — I decided to abandon all traditional viewing perspectives for this movie and just enjoy the ride.

What a pleasure to see such a rare fresh approach to cinematic style and entertainment, from Snyder’s trademark color-saturated and/or grainy washed-out settings to his brave and effective framing of shots, such as an extreme close-up of the lead actress on the left half of the frame and another actor in a medium shot on the right side and also in full focus. And writer/director/producer Snyder got some terrific performances out of relatively unfamiliar lead Australian actress Browning (“The Uninvited”), here with stark white hair and very fair skin, and fairly unknown lead villain Oscar Isaac (“Robin Hood,” “Body of Lies”), who is brilliantly intimidating (don’t miss his performance of Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug,” with co-villain Carla Gugino during the closing credits).

There are also fun smaller turns by more familiar actors such as Jena Malone (“Bastard out of Carolina,” Into the Wild”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Scott Glenn, and especially a departure role for “High School Musical” sweetheart Vanessa Hudgens.

But one of the most enjoyable elements to be sure is the reworking of popular songs such as a mash-up of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with “I Want it All” from “Armageddon,” Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini’s take on Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit,” and many others.

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: IMAXout, Max IMAX

“Mars” IMAX 3D impact at JPL

March 9, 2011 By Scott Hettrick 1 Comment

“Mars Needs Moms,” the latest performance-capture 3D movie from producer Robert Zemeckis and Walt Disney Studios, opens Friday, March 11, on more than 256 IMAX screens, including 211 in the U.S.
The clever and fun film about a young boy (Seth Green) who secretly climbs aboard a spaceship to try to recapture his mother (Joan Cusack) from martians who kidnap her to help discipline their mass-produced children, delivers very impressive 3D, especially on a full large format IMAX screen.

Director Simon Wells, a great grandson of H.G. Wells and a longtime protege of producer Robert Zemeckis, told 3DHollywood.net that the entire film was designed and shot specifically to take full advantage of 3D moreso than most, and to customize the experience for maximum impact in formats like IMAX 3D. That it does, with the depth very apparent in every shot and numerous scenes popping slightly out of the screen for selective impact.

The final brief shots of the movie are set inside the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, a nod to the NASA agency that builds and drives the series of Mars rovers that deliver the 3D images used as reference for this movie. Two of the scientists at JPL spoke to 3DHollywood.net last week in the following 2 1/2-minute video about their work on Mars and with 3D cameras, as well as their interest in movies about Mars and 3D movies in general…
– By Scott Hettrick

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Filed Under: 3D Q&A, 3Debut, IMAXout, Video Gallery

IMAX pushes Number Four to #2

February 20, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

IMAX presentations of DreamWorks’ “I Am Number Four” accounted for a very strong 13% of the film’s $19.5 mil. in opening weekend box office grosses, pushing the movie distributed by Disney to a strong second place finish, not far behind Warner Bros.’ thriller “Unknown.”

IMAX was responsible for 13% of the “Number Four” take, according to Hollywood Box Office. That’s not surprising because the IMAX presentation greatly enhances the movie that has a lot in common with the stories of “Superman”/”Superman II” from the late 1970s and early 1980s, and “Transformers.” It’s big and noisy with giant alien creatures and humanoids wielding really big weapons who tear up roads, schools and football stadiums in their quest to track down and kill nine of their own species who mysteriously wound up on Earth as teens where each is discovering they have unique super powers. All of which is delightfully magnified on the much bigger IMAX screens and through the IMAX sound system that rattles your seats.
The movie also has a bit of the old WB network feel (and now “Twilight”) with the movie mostly populated by attractive teens and mostly taking place at nighttime.
If not much is particular original, it’s all good fun and holds your interest, maybe even enough to see at least the first follow-up in what producer Michael Bay apparently hopes to be a franchise series.

Meanwhile, two 3D movies remained in the top six in their second weekend but “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” dropped from a close second all the way to sixth place with $13.6 mil. this weekend, while Elton John’s “animated “Gnomeo & Juliet” brought in another $19.4 mil. for Disney to keep it in third place with only a 23% drop, bringing its total to $50.4 mil., just slightly behind Bieber’s cume of $51.7 mil.

– By Scott Hettrick

Filed Under: IMAX news, IMAXout

“Number Four” in 228 IMAX Friday; trailer

February 15, 2011 By Scott Hettrick Leave a Comment

“I Am Number Four,” from producer Michael Bay, will open on 228 IMAX screens domestically this Friday (Feb. 18).
The DreamWorks Studios suspense thriller distributed by Walt Disney Studios and directed by D.J. Caruso will also be released to at least 96 IMAX screens internationally, with nine screens opening day-and-date.
Click below to see 90-second trailer of the first of an expected series of stories about a teen (Alex Pettyfer) with inexplicable powers who is on the run from an apparent alien race trying to find and capture him. While on the run with his guardian (Timothy Olyphant) he winds up in a small town in Ohio where he experiences first love (Dianna Agron) and discovers others who share his incredible destiny.
– By Scott Hettrick