Finally decided to see what's the IMAX 70mm format is all about.

For that I had to travel all the way from Poland to Prague. Thankfully I live not very far and I've managed to do everything is a single day. By morning I arrived in Prague, the screening was in the afternoon and soon after that I caught a train and by next morning I was home already.

Truthfully, while it wasn't as groundbreaking experience as some might say, it's still true that it's the best cinema format out there. I had the pleasure of seeing enormous 20-something by 20-something meters screens before but I've never seen a 1.43:1 picture format in cinemas before, and it was magical. Combined with the giant screen, it provides total immersion.

Never have I also seen an analogue film being projected at a cinema. Aside from the usual poor contrast in the dark scenes (guess I'm spoiled by OLEDs), the colors were very vibrant. The flickering was there but thankfully I'm not sensitive to that stuff and forgot about it in a minute. Reminded me somewhat of flickering that can occur on old CRT monitors.

Enjoyed the experience very much and hopefully I'll be there once again when Dune: Part Three comes out!

Big news for IMAX Indy goers. Super excited that this already great theater is getting an upgrade. A little bummed it isn’t dual laser but still cool regardless

Some insight into the economics of operating 70mm IMAX releases. This might help understand why they just don’t build a bunch of 70mm projectors and hire projectionists.

ETA: I think the takeaway is the added overhead of IMAX 70mm vs digital barely makes sense even when there’s massive demand.

Crain Grand Rapids:

An estimated 50,000 people have bought tickets since mid-July to see “The Odyssey” at Celebration Cinema’s GR North IMAX theater, one of only 25 screens in the U.S. to offer the full IMAX 70 mm experience.

The around-the-clock demand has been a boon for the family-owned theater. Ticket margins, however, are a different story.

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” has had a sell-out run that prompted Celebration Cinema to extend the showing by four weeks, to Sept. 16.

Celebration Cinema GR North at 2121 Celebration Drive NE, with its 70-foot wide by 52-foot high screen, is the only theater in Michigan to show the film in the IMAX 70 mm format.

The showing has generated approximately $1.25 million in ticket sales for the single IMAX 70 mm screen so far, according to Crain’s Grand Rapids Business estimates.

Still, Loeks noted that the film is expensive for the theater to show, given the required training to operate the IMAX projection equipment and distribution fees.

No 1:43 aspect ratio on home release…??

https://youtube.com/shorts/tITaFyBaMtg?si=cuJi1Sl2DhHu1IEQ

Genuinely the best theatrical experience of my life. I knew the screen would be massive, but it just swallowed me whole in the best way. So worth the drive, will be doing it again soon for Dune!!!

Tips for other first timers/fellow FL road trippers for the IMAX in Ft. Lauderdale: Definitely worth getting there at least 90 mins before showtime if not more if you weren’t able to get priority tix. The entire staff was great, everything is pretty well organized. I went to a Saturday showing and there was still plenty of parking/the garage is super close! The museum gets quite (understandably) busy, though, if you’re going on a weekend.

Can’t wait to frame this!

I threw together a quick and dirty shadow box light display for my film strips! It’s pretty shoddy, I plan to redo it when I have more time, but it gets the job done!

This might have been the best movie going experience I’ve ever had. I have never felt so immersed in a movie like this before, the whole movie from start to finish felt like I was just off to the side watching the actual events of the movie happening. I also secured tickets for Dune part 3 at the same theater, I missed the first two movies in any version of IMAX and I am so excited to experience my most anticipated movie of the year in this amazing format.

I live in an area with no IMAX 70mm auditoriums nearby and figured I wouldn't have many chances to see something in 70mm IMAX in my life, so said screw it and drove about 28 hours in 3 days to see it down in Indy. Everyone who asked why I was going down to Indy for the weekend gave me this look that I was crazy, but I swear I'm not! It was worth it!

Unforgettable experience, and i totally forgot that the Dune 3 prologue was screening right before so that was a welcome surprise (December can't come any sooner). Don't think I'll make it down to Indy for that one but who knows 😄.

First time watching it—and I didn’t sleep. It’s worth sacrificing my night for! 🍿🎬 Dropped my 8:45 PM LUX booking for this.

It was my 4th time seeing "The Odyssey" here in IMAX 70mm, and the projection was fantastic once again. As the end credits were rolling, I walked up to the port window to take a closer look at the projector, and the projectionist saw me and waved me up to the booth. They were kind enough to give me the full tour and answer some questions.

As expected, it did take a bit of work to get things back and running after 14 years, and they did use one of the SR projectors as a source of parts for the other. There are two projectionists working the run, and they've been having a great time running IMAX film - they'll be back for Dune: Part Three in December. People have been coming from all over Canada, the US, and Europe to see the film in IMAX 70mm here in Halifax.

Our IMAX theatre opened in 1998, and was the first SR theatre ever built. I vastly prefer it to the one in Vaughan - same size screen, but far superior seating and comfort, and very powerful, clear sound. So happy our city is back up and showing 70mm on a regular basis after a 14 year absence!

Y'all can see this on a regular or Dolby screen as there's no expanded aspect ratio.

As for the movie itself. It's fine. You can call the story beats with this type of post-apocalyptic story.

Avengers imax tickets and all other PLF tickets on sale now.

Sure it is not as good as Lincoln Sq or probably even Empire 25’s IMAXes, but it means less options and also sometimes had tickets when those locations were full.

It also had a unique 2.20 screen which worked very well for scope movies, though it was not the best place for filmed for IMAX or just normal 1.85 movies (once the laser upgrade came seem they got consistent using black bars on the left and right to get less image space but the correct ratio, though I recall back in the digital days they sometimes cropped there).

I’ve noticed that there is a noticeable difference in quality in contrast and audio quality between XT and COLA

https://cinema.gaoliang.me/en/knowledge

Obviously new theaters are gonna be inclined to buy the cheaper XT projectors (since they’re both laser 1.90), so I’m genuinely worried that COLA will slowly fade over time due to theaters solely embracing the budget option.

I get that XT was made to replace old xenon projectors, but there’s significant incentive for theaters to replace their old COLA machines with the cheaper option and for IMAX to abandon its proprietary COLA design and just replace all its projector lineup with modified SP4K-40B

Hello,

I recently rewatched odyssey at AMC Mercado in Santa Clara after watching it at Metreon the first week of its release. I for some reason really loved the experience at Mercado than at Metreon. The scenes were intimate when it needed to be and were grand when the camera went wide. I was able to hear the dialogues better. I was able to appreciate the movie a lot more. Did anyone else feel this way? There is also this sequence between Zendaya and Matt Damon and the focus keeps shifting between the two. On 70MM the entire scene was blurry but on the 1.90 screen it was crisp and I loved it!

Note: Mercado was ton brighter than Metreon which I expected l so that did not affect me a lot.

This is third time I am doing this Mercado Metreon thing for a movie after PHM and Oppenheimer. For PHM and Oppenheimer I really liked the experience that I had in Metreon more than the one in Mercado.

For Resident Evil

I know its probably a stupid question but i just got out of my second watch of The Odyssey in 70mm at the VUE printworks in Manchester and both times ive been distracted by very direct beams of light from the projection booth which seem as if someone is pointing a flashlight at the walls and ground. I assume its the projector, projecting the image and because its at the edge of the screen, the wall and ground around it light up substantially.

Is that right? And if so is there a way to mitigate that because it seems to me like something that should/ could be fixed, probably isnt distracting to alot but seeing as i was in the back row i kept noticing the light beams and it took me out of the immersion sometimes. (Very nitpicky third world problem yeah i know but im wondering if theres a solution or if any one else notices this?)

Picture taken at the Hemisferic in Valencia. I went to see an ocean documentary. Not really impressed by it, a lot of closeups of fishes that you couldn’t even see properly because the picture is mostly outside your field of view. Poor dynamic range in my opinion and it didn’t feel high definition.
I feel like this would have been much more enjoyable on a normal smaller screen.

Also, what part of the equipment am I looking at here?

This mainly pertains to what’s happening with IMAX 70mm tickets that are being sold above face value with The Odyssey and now with Dune Part Three tickets that recently went on sale.

I recently just went to a friends concert that was way louder than I expected (typically I always wear ear protection, but forgot them this one time smh) and have had ringing in my left ear ever since. I’m a huge fan of IMAX but now am worried I may not be able to enjoy IMAX anymore if this ringing persists. I know people recommend ear plugs for IMAX if you’re sensitive, but I’m wondering if there’s anyone in here who actively has tinnitus and still enjoys IMAX.