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IMAX Develops Movie Transfer Technology
kazama writes: "Toronto-based IMAX said that it had developed a new process called DMR (for "digital remastering") to digitally convert conventional 35mm films to the IMAX format without significant loss of detail. 'Our customers have been saying to us for years, "We want to see Star Wars on IMAX, we want to see The Matrix on IMAX." and DMR is the technology which is the enabler,' Co-CEO Bradley Wechsler told Reuters. 'That's going to be an increasingly important part of the company's performance.'" So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
pr0n. lots of pr0n.
IMAX Porn
I want to be right in the middle of the battle for Middle Earth!! :D
I, for one, do _not_ want to see The Matrix in IMAX. 35mm was bad enough...shiver. Keanu's acting is miserable in any resolution, and detail doesn't make up for lack of anything interesting to present in detail.
There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
Max V.
NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
Great, something else for the MPAA to be pissed aobut. Those greedy little buggers... Anyway, I think this is great. Nothing better than "Ernest goes to camp" on an IMAX screen. Just what the world needs.
Sure, you can interpolate and use fancy smoothing and guessing algorithms. But you can't get it looking as good as something that was shot originally for IMAX. I'm sure it looks good, but not that good.
They should show porn on IMAX screens
Having an IMAX screen for a computer monitor - now that's even better than the IBM T221, neh? The perfect display system for the as-yet-unfinished bedroom Beowulf cluster :-)
I'd like to see altered states on IMAX.. and on acid
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
This is confusing to me...a long time ago, I watched Jurrasic Park on an IMAX screen, and was disappointed - the image was not IMAX size (didn't fill the whole screen)nor aspect ratio. The only benefit was the better sound system.
But recently, I went to the local mega theater to see SpiderMan, and was suprised to learn they were showing it on the IMAX screen. I expected the same thing, but it wasn't - it was a full sized IMAX image, and the image quality seemed fine to me.
So if this technology in the article is some new innovation, how are they doing it right now, and what are the disadvantages of the current approach?
Well, seeing as I grew up in the wrong time period to see Star Wars when it first came out (and was not interested when it got remastered and shown at various marathons at local cinemas), I for one would love to see Star Wars get redone using this technology and then get a re-release.
:)
I wouldn't imagine I am the only one either
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
The Blair Witch Project on IMAX, of course! How else are we supposed to compete for projectile vomitting distances?
Has this tech been used already?
I saw LOTR on the imax screen here in Calgary. My girlfriend got annoyed watching it though - too blurry and it gave her motion sickness. We could have done the same thing with Spider-Man but we saw it on a regular screen instead.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
I hope this works out as well as they're touting. We just got one of these theaters a year or two ago, but I'm just not interested in 'Avalanche' or stuff like that. Show classics, like the Indiana Jones movies and such, and I'll gladly spend money to go there, probably more often than a regular theater.
I just upgraded to HDTV. Now I have to go out and buy an IMAX projector for my home theater system? Where will it end???
admit it -- you'd go
something big explode . . .
maybe they could just build better movie theaters so we don't need to see movies in IMAX. I've been lucky enough to have seen movies in theaters that put IMAX to shame, and its quite an experience...
JAWS
Imagine what Star Wars will look like when Lucas gets done remastering it for an Imax screen. Not only will Greedo fire first, but he'll be accompanied by two Hutts. Then Han will have a long discussion with them about the morality of self-defense and playing nice with other children.
The possibilities are, unfortunately, endless...
"Fifty million Americans can't be wrong," said Rep. Billy Tauzin. Gore - 50,999,897 Bush - 50,456,002
Which movie would you like to see in IMAX?
:o)
-----
"You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."
Step into Liquid, which I don't think is released yet, seems like a good choice for imax, if it isn't for imax already. That first cam angle where it goes into the wave would be one amazing effect on a huge imax screen.
i nt o_liquid.html
http://www.stepintoliquid.com/
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/step_
girls gone wild
I dont care whether its IMAX or KLIMAX.
For my sixth grade graduation present, I asked my parents to take me to 2001, which we saw in Colorado Springs in, what I now know to be, "Super Panavision," the only time I've ever seen such a "vision." Some time later, the theater was broken into four separate theaters and was later torn down.
I'd like to see Clerks on IMAX, just for the absurdity factor of watching a movie originally shot on 16mm film projected from 75mm film.
The ABSTRUSE One
Jason Byrons
"You all laugh at me because I'm different
I laugh at you because you're a
2001: A space odyssey
I'm sorry, but if it were assigned a 3-letter acronym, it would have to be "DRM." But I suppose that has been taken already and should be scrambled...
DigiRema sounds pretty cool though... or DiRema maybe. I have nothing more useful to contribute at this time.
an 'Ask Slashdot';
'What films, apart from pr0n, do you want to see on IMAX?'
The question 'what films...' is an obvious one on a site dominated by male techs...
I put my books on Amazon, Smashwords, Demonoid, ISOHunt and Pirate Bay. Search for 'Michael Cargill'
I say let's see Tron. It isn't that great of a movie, but I seem to remember thinking it was the greatest thing since sugarless sweatener when I was a kid.
It's easy to stand out when the general level of competence is so low.
Dark City would look amazing on an IMAX...
Fritz Lang brought to life.
I want to see all 3 LotR with short potty breaks inbetween.
From Dusk Til Dawn would be fun on IMAX :)
Or John Carpenter's Vampires. That one would be cool :)
So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
Debbie Does Dallas!
I want to see MATRIX-reloaded on IMAX if the filmed it on IMAX film.
conversion cannot create detail out of nothing. you can fudge and guess but the big draw of IMAX is the insane detail on the insane side screen.
Sorry but if they shot Everest on cheap-ol 35MM film and tried to pass it off as an IMAX film with conversion it would have lost almost every bit of it's impact by losing the detail and resolution.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared Synn" in 3D IMAX!!
+ all of Trek movies
a realtime video filter of CounterStrike.
I've seen a lot of posts already saying, "sh0w suM pr0n!!!!1!!!"
People, think about what you're saying. Pornography (at least the modern sort) is shot for the small screen. The very small screen. Nineteen inch televisions or, even worse, computer monitors. As a result, its directors often go for the extreme closeup, usually to great effect.
Now think about these closeups on IMAX. Gaping orifices of every level of hygeine standing several stories high? I don't know about you, but that sounds more "nauseating" than "erotic."
So please, think twice before you request porn on the (really) big screen. This has been a public service announcement(TM).
So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
The Lion King.
slashdot!=valid HTML
The Biodome - Rocketman doulbe feature!.
In 2007 you will have to get a digital IMAX projector anyways...
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class. Especially since I rule. -Randal, Clerks
What movie would I like to see on IMAX? Classical IMAX movies, for one! This may sound dumb, but the truth of the matter is that some of the best IMAX films are out of circulation and simply cannot be seen today.
For example:
Tomorrow in Space
To Fly!
Titanica
I want to see blood showering from the ceiling, and see each drop fly in front of my eyes. I'm not usually the psychotic type, but I've seen the movie at least half a dozen times and *love* it!
For action films lots of people might want to see them first run on the IMAX screen. I don't know about dramas. Who wants to see Road to Perdition on a giant screen? Or worse yet, When Harry Met Sally?
Of course this trend might annoy George Lucas. I am not aware of any digital project capability for IMAX theaters. They would need a really impressive high resolution digital projector to go to IMAX size. Which reminds me, most IMAX movies run for a long time. I mean they are at the theater for about a year. I would guess that the film is expensive to produce and transport. Would it make economic sense to convert The Matrix? How many people would pay $10 to see it again on a really big screen? Maybe first run movies would be a better bet.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Some of the humor might be lost though: all of Spaceball 1 would fit on the screen!
And come on, giant bugs diving at me at Imax size can't be beat.
Where are these theaters located anyway? Here in Maryland we have one in the Baltimore Science Center, and one in the Smithsonian (I think it's the Museum of Natural History) in DC. Are any of these theaters meant for the general movie-going public or all they all attatched to educational centers?
If they're all in museums and such, then I don't see the point in releasing the latest summer blockbuster there.
- sig? who is this sig of which you speak?
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
stupid "plain old text" default. a pox on thee.
How does DMR stand for Digital Remastering? Wouldn't DRM make more sense? Oh that's right, that's already been used...
Sam
course all the good movies have already been taken. So I'm going to put my money on Akira, Transformers The Movie, Battle Royale, Monty Python(any one of 'em), and the Super Mario Bros. movie just for laughs.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
I beleive that the average theater uses 35mm film but in the high end theaters they often also can use 70mm. In a multiplex that I used to go to in VA they had two screens of 70mm for new/big releases and featured that they were 70mm while the other 10 screens were 35mm. IIRC IMAX is a 70mm format, but I assume different from the run of the mill 70mm film projector, so they could use the higher quality 70mm film in an IMAX, but it wouldn't be up to full IMAX standards, what they are suggesting here is that they can digitally enhance the film from 35mm to make it acceptable on IMAX screens.
Debbie Does Dallas
I really shouldn't have used someone else's email address for this account.
What movies do I want to see on IMAX?
Armatage III OVA version - Especially the final battle.
Tenchi Muyo OVA
Princess Minoko
The Rats of Nihm
[Before you flame me, I freely admit my spelling sux]
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Simple; The Sound of Music; Julie Andrews several stories tall and belting out the tunes. Oh yeah!
This is not the sig you're looking for
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Ishtar
C.H.U.D
Licence to Drive
Ladybugs
Chairman of the Board (with the irrepressable Carrottop!)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
The Master of Disguise
The Country Bears
and finally, the #1 Movie I would like to see at an IMAX: Air Bud 4: Seventh Inning Fetch!
A guy can dream, can't he?
"... as well as enlisting Tom Cruise as the narrator of our new hit 3D film SPACE STATION."
He'll probably ramble on about Xenu or something. Hoo boy. This could be a conspiracy, huh?
--
It's a joke. Laugh.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Really huge-screen David Lean flicks...
Aw but seriously, any of the biggees would be nice... Braveheart, Star Trek First Contact, maybe 2001...
People shape laws. Not the other way around.
- Akira
- Tron
- any Star Wars (although JarJar on IMAX is, ummm...)
- any Lord of the Rings
- Men in Black - especially the end sequence
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Perfect Storm - you thought those waves were big on a normal screen, eh...
And just about any movie with serious panaromas, including lots of art films, some of the shorts out of the animation festivals, films with large battles scenes or including view from aircraft or space, and so on.Yo' Momma...cuz 'da beyotch don't fit on regular widescreen...
...so I'll ask. What is the advantage of transfering a 35mm source to a larger format? You wouldn't gain resolution or quality, you would just get interpolation or blurring. My understanding was that the only reason IMAX theaters traditionally have massive screens was to show off the increased detail of the film format. Is there a specific reason why transfering a film to IMAX format gains anything?
Those who complain about affect & effect on
Mary Poppins
C'mon, the classics of the genre in IMAX?
:)
Are you kidding me? Every detail exposed in tender, loving IMAX quality?
Yeppers, there IS a silent majority that would dearly love to see their favorite pr0n babe up on the IMAX screen.
If a feature length film was shown on an IMAX screen, the studios and IMAX were probably looking the other way.
:
IMAX and the Hollywood studios don't want some hack to display regular film onto an IMAX sized screen. Its going to look bad, period. Even if you go to a multiplex that has a "very large screen" (General Cinema's Green Monster Screen in Boston, MA comes to mind) movies look like crap on it. Jittery and grainy.
However, IMAX and the Hollywood studios are waking up to the fact of revenue potential from full feature length films being shown on IMAX sized screens. Of course this must be done according to IMAX's brand level of quality. IMAX DMR represents the initiative to do get this done. The first feature length hollywood film to be shown with this technology will be Apollo 13. So if you think you have seen a movie with this technology and it wasn't Apollo 13 pre-screen and you were a member of the public when you saw it, then you are deluding yourself.
Disney's Beauty and the Beast represented an earlier "beta" generation of this technology. So if you saw that you get some idea.
Text of a press release follows
Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and IMAX Corporation bring Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience to IMAX screens worldwide.
Apollo 13 tells the dramatic true story of the heroic actions needed to bring a three-astronaut crew safely back to Earth after the Apollo 13 space mission suffered catastrophic mechanical problems en route to the Moon. Made with NASA's collaboratioin, the highly-suspenseful film is scientifically and historically accurate. Apollo 13 features strong performances from the ensemble cast, led by Oscar®-winning actor Tom Hanks, and brilliant direction by Ron Howard, another Oscar winner. Apollo 13 will be digitally re-mastered into IMAX's 15/70 format using the revolutionary IMAX DMRTM technology.
If they thought the breasts were preposterously large in video, wait'll they get a load of this!
Heh heh... forget porn... they should do an Amazing Nurse Nanako marathon...
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
I wonder if they will have a problem with the perfect digital conversion to Imax format. I mean they have a problem with everything else (digital TV). But i really want to see Akira or the who LoTR on Imax along with plenty of others people have named. I think it's great,
-For it is the very essence of imperialism to turn information systems into wild, bloodthirsty animals-
The Shawshank Redemption!
Braveheart
Spaceballs
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Blade Runner
Tron
Winnie The Pooh.
Anyone who says they can do without a 40 foot tall Tigger is a damned liar!
Finally, we can see My Dinner with André in the full splendor of IMAX!!!!
There aint no pancake so thin it doesn't have two sides.
Isn't that Sacrilegious for a Linux site.
-Fzz
no text
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
I think it would look sweet! Like when they are in the sailboat kind of thing, moving down the beam...it would capture the intended infiniteness of the TRON world on such a huge screen.
To make this movie better, make it bigger and louder. Just like an American in a foreign country trying to communicate. If they don't understand you, speak slowly and loudly.
Anything you say will be held against you.
Thank you! That needed to be said. My thoughts exactly. I am not attracted to a vagina I can walk inside of.
If they can get good enough quality on an IMAX screen for any movie, we might find that IMAX becomes much more of a mainstream cimena. They will be able to drop all those expensively-made-but-really-rather-dull documentary type movies that are currently shown in IMAX cinemas, and some actual entertainment instead. I can see IMAX's popularity rocketing if this works.
you know you are at the right message board when a comment about p0rn will get an "insightful" mod.
I LOVE slashdot! (no sarcasm)
...And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)
Die Hard.
Explosions.
IMAX.
MMmmmmm.....
Native IMAX projects an almost square image, maybe 4x3 ish.
In the past, I've seen 70mm versions of Hollywood films projected onto "IMAX" screens and they just look the same, but bigger. That is to say, they retain their "letterbox" or 16x9 ish appearance.
While watching the trailers befor the current IMAX flick Space Station, one was for a "Remastered in IMAX" Apollo 13. Guess what. It was square. Just like the version they played on TV. So, I didn't have my portable DVD player with me at the time (or ever) to compare that image to the letterbox version, but I fear that instead of having some previously unseen top and bottom sections of the picture hanging around waiting for just this occasion, they have just cropped off the left and right sides like in the TV version.
Would YOU want to pay $12 to see an interpolated, cropped version of (great) movie which you could see in its full glory on DVD (and a good projection screen)?
umm, Blade Runner anyone? I wanna see that blimp advertising the Colonies lifesize on the screen...
Open the pod bay doors Hal.
This month's FHM mentions a 40 foot screen set up beside a lake, a remastered version of Jaws, and a bunch of very lucky/scared people watching from their seats (floating innertubes) on the lake! They also said there will be some actual underwater effects to accompany the movie. I can't imagine much that would be scarier than that at night.
geeks are cats who dig a certain kind of cool
I'm sure lots of people have seen the matrix or star wars on their i-macs.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
sure would make for an interesting view on the ``Big Big Screen''. I'm not quite sure I'd want to go watch it but I found watching it on the ``Small Big Screen'' quite amazing.
I have seen two types of movies called IMAX. One is projected on a dome ceiling like at the museum of science in boston, the other is just a really huge screen with great quality and sound. Is there a difference between these two? I'd want to see Bladerunner and Alien on the former, and just about anything on the later.
Several stories tall? Wow, that would actually be quite funny to see.
Remastered and transferred:
;)
:)
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Eyes Wide Shut (I liked it...)
Full Metal Jacket
Maybe even Barry Lyndon (3+ hour back AND neckache...)
Don't know about the earlier ones (Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, etc.). Would be absurd, though
Fat Bastard 3 stories tall!
Yeah baby!!
I stole this Sig
The Newport, KY Imax theatre showed the Matrix for a few nights back in April, i believe. Having seen it, I can only make two comments about huge-screen movies:
1. Too big.
2. Too loud.
I know that sounds kinda prudish and totally un-male of me, but there is a line that you have to draw when pursuing that "bigger, better, faster, more..." method of evolution. When you actually have to turn your head from side to side because the screen exceeds your field of vision, you're well across that line.
How much you want to bet this "new-process" is just "bi-linear" interpolation of the image to a larger size followed by guassian sharpening. Something artists do everyday with still images...
I'll bet the patent office would grant a patent on it.
Micrososmos would be pretty amazing too.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
"Games go big-screen in IMAX contest
Video games will gain a whole new dimension--including a mild sense of nausea--with a contest Aug. 15 at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif. Game players who pass qualifying rounds will compete for final prizes in games projected on the museum's giant IMAX screen, believed to be the first time an IMAX screen has been used for gaming.
The Maxgames contest includes popular games for all three major game consoles, including "Halo," "Tony Hawk: Pro Skater" and "Gran Turismo." Registration is $25 for those wishing to compete in all-ages games, $30 for "mature" titles, with proceeds going to the Tech's education fund. For further details and registration, visit the Maxgames site. --David Becker, Special to ZDNet News"
http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1106-948998.html
IMAX collaborated with Sarnoff last year on a project to create IMAX 3D movies more cheaply. Normally, IMAX 3D movies are shot using 2 IMAX cameras to get the 3D effect. However, since IMAX cameras are HUGE and HEAVY, they wanted to be able to shoot 3D using only 1 IMAX camera and 1 regular 35mm camera.
i ndex.asp
This technique was presented in several computer vision and graphics conferences (including SIGGRAPH) last year, and is probably what they built on for this newer process.
It seems bizarre that such amounts of detail that were never in the 35mm print can be added as a post-production step, but it actually works pretty well (at least from what the results I saw in their papers.)
Here's a link of results of their process:
http://www.sarnoff.com/search/tech_papers/hybrid/
The Bridge on the Rive Kwai
Dr. Zhivago
Lawrence of Arabia (oh yeah!)
in fact, pretty much anything by David Lean.
668: Neighbour of the Beast
Mike.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
IMAX theatres display video in approximately a 180 degree field of view. Most non-imax movies are shot with a much narrower field of view since it's meant to be displayed on a flat rectangular screen. So these movies are going to have to be stretched out to fill up the whole screen. Watching regular movies in an Imax theatre is going to be like watching yourself in a fun house mirror.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
Would it make economic sense to convert The Matrix? How many people would pay $10 to see it again on a really big screen? Maybe first run movies would be a better bet.
I, for one, would love to see The Matrix on an IMAX screen. I think it would be a great experience.
That's why you go to a theater you know. For the experience. Otherwise, DVD and VHS would've killed them a long time ago. Why bother paying high ticket prices and overcharged on underbuttered popcorn and $7 drinks? Because there's something magical about being in a huge auditorium, in a room filled with strangers, going on imaginary adventures with people who never existed.
I would kill to see a marathon of Star Wars (Ep. 1,2,4,5, & 6) on IMAX (and of course do it again once Ep. 3 is finished). It would be a wonderful experience. The sights, the sounds, I think there would be absolutely nothing like it.
But there's a lot to think about here.
Firstly you have the screen itself. Last year, when Beauty and the Beast made more bundles of cash by making a "Special IMAX Edition" there had to be a change. And I'm not talking resolution, I'm talking frame-wise.
IMAX screens are 1.33:1 (television) aspect ratios. Most films are 1.85:1, and most of the classics are 2.35:1
So when they blow up films to fit this huge screen, not only are they losing resolution, they're losing part of the image all over again. It's called Pan & Scan, or Hack 'N Slash, depending on your viewpoint.
I could go on the huge tirade about how P&S is awful, how its destroying cinema as we know it, how it scares away Joe Blow from the infamous "black bars" and "why can't I see the rest of the picture" bullshit that myself and others have dealt with for years (ie, those in defense of widescreen).
The point is that The Matrix was not filmed in "Open Matte." Open Matte is where the black bars are put there intentionally, so the film can be shown in theaters properly. So when the home video comes around, you don't even have to worry about loss of picture, because the 1.33:1 frame actually shows more than what you originally saw in the theater (the great Run Lola Run was done this way). In those cases IMAX reproduction would rely solely on the resolution, with nothing else to worry about.
However, most of the films that are "classics" are in 2.35:1 "Superscope" meaning that when you pan and scan, you lose up to 33% of the film. For example, you have Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Arc (all of the Indiana Jones films for that matter), Lawrence of Arabia, Pulp Fiction, etc etc. The list can go on.
So when you think about IMAX reproduction of films, the frame is more important than the resolution. If you pan and scan a classic, you don't get the classic, you get what an editor "chose" to see at a particular point. And this to me is paramount.
The IMAX version of Manos: The Hands of Fate. A giant Torgo would really rock. I would also settle for Razorback.
I've actually seen The Matrix on an Imax screen. I happened to be in Chicago visiting my brother on a Friday, and the Navy Pier Imax Theater was showing it. It was probably just a normal print of the film being projected onto the giant screen, though.
Virtual Sex with Jenna Jameson by Wicked Pictures on IMAX.
geek n performer who performs morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken
Star Trek whatever, of course, but not 5. God Forbid 5.
This sig no verb.
Back to the post...I'd love to see the shots in Contact where Jody Foster is "time/space traveling" in IMAX, tho I'd be afraid of flashing back to my Deadhead days. (who am I kidding..I've never completely left)
And not to restate an obvious Slashdot reader favorite but Lord of the Rings would translate very well IMHO. The orcs would be THAT MUCH BIGGER and the battle scenes gargantuan to add to their already epic look.
My $.02 over and over again!
MMMmmmmmm....erotic cakes!!! Homer J. Simpson - Treehouse of Horror VI
Bambi vs. Godzilla?
Disney actually has a few 70mm prints of TRON (complete w/ remastered multi-channel digital soundtrack). They were struck in 1999, for some reason, and shown at the El Capitan (a one-screen Hollywood movie palace owned by Disney). They looked gorgeous, although they did reveal the limits of the source material. (Fun factoids: the scenes with live actors inside the computer were filmed in 70mm black and white, then blown up to cel size for rotoscoping/effects work, and re-shot on an animation stand. The computer animation was rendered on an IBM System 360 mainframe with custom software by Abel Systems.)
OT:
Before the screening there was a little round-table discussion and Q/A session with Steven Lisburger (writer/director), Bruce Boxleitner (who played Alan/Tron), Cindy Morgan (who played Lora/Yori), and one of the Abel systems people who made all those computer animated sequences possible - I think it was Tim McGovern. The director mentioned that he always thought of TRON as "the Bill Gates story" - i.e. the plucky young programmer breaking the shackles of centralized control (IBM). He said a lot of other stuff I didn't care about - I always hated the actual plot and acting of the film - but at least the Abel Systems guy got to talk a bit about doing CGI in 1982.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
I kinda liked this movie, but I really liked the idea that it's all computer generated. I think it'd be cool to see on an IMAX screen.
You can't shine shit. You can't recreate information that was orginally lost when shooting on 35mm.
However, you can recognize textures from one frame to the next, or use the fractal transform to create faux detail, or whatever other proprietary techniques this "DMR" system uses.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The romans didnt believe in doing anything small, did they? Checking out Gladiator on IMAX would be nice.. Would be awesome to see the collosseum on that huge of a format..
i'd have to say wrath of khan. that movie was the shit and always will be. those old trek movies had better special effects than anything we will ever see again since they actually took the time to build some pretty detailed scale models and really blow shit up.
one of these days
I know I don't speak for everyone on Slashdot (I imagine it's pretty diverse crowd), but I don't think I'd enjoy The Crying Game in IMAX. :)
_______
2B1ASK1
So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
... did i said creamy banana? Sorry about that - please disregard this post
I want to see Creamy Banana 21 in all it's glory!!!
Oh, wait
I want to watch every movie made by every MPAA member on an IMAX screen. MPAA rulesors!
pr0n !!
#6495ED - cornflower blue
for the ultimate Imax nausea
Yeah, without loss of detail from the 35mm print.
But 35mm prints don't start with anywhere near the detail of those giant IMAX prints.
You can't create resolution from nowhere.
If Chaos Theory has taught us anything, it's that we must kill all the butterflies.
Here in Montral, the Paramount theater (on Ste-Catherine) has many movie screens and an IMAX screen. They have a 35mm projector in the IMAX room, and the cool movies are shown a couple of weeks in the beginning in the IMAX theater as well as 3 or 4 other rooms in theaters. So i saw Final Fantasy and LOTR:FOTR on an IMAX screen. The quality is very good (though not as good as real IMAX movies: the 35mm gets blown up more than on a standard theater screen and it does show a little) and the sound is AMAZING. And you're right in the action, it's absolutely amazing! i love it. I'll check the listings for LOTR:TTT for sure. Not many people in Montreal seem to know about this, though, and it's not really advertised (and it doesn't show as an 'IMAX showing' on the automated box office thingies). I'm sure other cities have theaters with both 35 mm and IMAX screens with a 35mm projo in the IMAX room.
It would be great to see Toy Story I/II, Antz, Monsters Inc. and Ice Age rendered at hundreds of megapixels per frame.
Jonathan Swift had Gulliver hiding in the bossoms of fair maidens in Brobdingnag. That was my wet dream when I was thirteen. Imax wouldn't have hurt either then..
Centerville - a great place for your kids to grow up in.
Moderators - if you don't get it you don't get it.
No sig? Sigh...
That has to be one of the most obscure quotes I could have imagined seeing.
:)
My favorite part of the scene, though, is his face when he sees that he has dropped the egg.
This is the exact same reason as to why high definition television has not caught on. As everyone knows porn is the primary driver of technology.
less down time.
Neat idea - but I've got one nitpicking question:
How the hell does DMR stand for "Digital Re-Mastering"?
would be really cool on that big screen. the sweeping shots of the city were amazing in theatres when I saw it. I can only imagine it on an IMAX!
This is an idiotic idea because IMAX's aspect ratio (it's height to width ratio) is about 4:3, while a movie is much wider at 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 so you'll get a cropped image like the bad old days of videotape on your TV.
"So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?"
The list would be long, but we can start with anything that involves a naked Angelina Jolie.
Please.
My
Limekiller
Hmm. There are the obvious ones (Raiders of the Lost Ark (just to see the huge boulder!), The Empire Strikes Back, all three of the Lord of the Rings films, etc.) and then I think about these:
The Right Stuff
Dune
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Terminator and Terminator 2
Alien and Aliens
At least a couple of the Star Trek films - Wrath of Khan for sure
Kenneth Brannagh's Henry V
Patton and Tora! Tora! Tora!
I'm sure more will come to mind after I post this...
please.
Thanks. I hate watching action sequences at 24 fps. Their horrible. No smoothness.
Attack of the Killer Tomatos
01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01010011 01001001 010
Damn PC world we live in!
Now think about these closeups on IMAX. Gaping orifices of every level of hygeine standing several stories high? I don't know about you, but that sounds more "nauseating" than "erotic."
If you actually like that kind of thing, a company called Goatse has found a way to give you the same effect on small screens by increasing the size of the orifice relative to the picture (and body).
Thus, you don't really need IMAX for that. A representative from goatse will probly post the URL's any second now for those interested.
Table-ized A.I.
First off- I do know what I'm talking about
;)
How is 'remastering' an image that is shot on 35mm film improve when you blow it up to 70mm? I mean, realistically, what this is saying is that you don't need to ever shoot 4x5 cameras- just shoot 35mm and all that precious details will magically come out when you digitize it. Poor Ansel Adams- if he had been alive now he could just use his $35 disposable camera and get those huge blowups with startling detail
OK I think you've caught the drift. Film has a limited resolution. Original IMAX uses 70mm film to get 4x the negative area (hence they can resolve quite a bit more detail than standard film). The only advantage I see to this is the marketing ploy- Genuine IMAX Film SIZE!. You don't gain detail, you don't gain ANYTHING that isn't already on the film. And since you are starting off on a small format to begin with, its not going to get better.
Now don't get me wrong, you can improve some work with digital sharpening and whatnot- going to a larger format helps there. But it in't going to give you the same quality of an IMAX experience compared with a film that is 70mm. It just can't be done. See my earlier jibes about 4x5 cameras if you need further humour
To benefit from the large screen, Imax films need to be shot in a special higher rez film. Watching standard films on Imax is like zooming in on a bitmap - you will only see larger dots (or blurry images), but no more detail.
Beyond that, I'd love to see Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense in an IMAX theater, Dark City, Felini's Juliette of the Spirits, and the Garbage Pail Kids movie....
d. Taylor Singletary, reality technician
(experimental music)
d. Taylor Singletary,
reality technician techra.el
How about:
a) Pink Floyd's "The Wall?" That was messed up enough on the "big" screen; I can only IMAGINE what it would be like to be wasted and seeing that on an IMAX screen.
b) I always liked "Battlestar Galactica" but I don't think it was ever a full screen movie, was it?
c) Indiana Jones was probably already mentioned.
d) Titanic, while predictable, would probably be pretty cool blown up 3-4 times.
e) "The Fast and the Furious" would be REALLY cool big AND loud.
My $0.02 worth.
"Sometimes the truth is stupid." - Lawrence, creator of Prime Intellect
Cabin Boy! Woo-hoo!
Flight of the Navigator would have been so much cooler in IMAX.
Typically, good 35mm lenses have much higher resolution (i.e. lines/mm) than good quality medium or large format lenses. This means that there is more information available in a 35mm frame than is available in a comparable portion of a larger IMAX film frame. Assuming the film can out resolve the lense, the transfer from 35mm to IMAX shouldn't completely be due to interpolation. This means that with good algorithms etc, they should scale well (not perfectly tho').
I want to see biplanes flying over plains and giant heards.
Think global, act loco
Digital grain removal is going to be useful. I look forward to when it's a filter in most video edit programs. There's lots of old 16mm historical footage that could use cleanup for grain and transport jitter.
Amusingly, there's a commercial process for film grain insertion, which is supposed to make video "look like film".
How many of you realize that DMR is just a cleverly disguised ANAGRAM of D R M!!!
Yes, it took me several months of painstaking research to find the truth, and I may be killed or worse for posting it here!
That's right! DMR is just a way for the MPAA to sneak DRM past you unsuspecting tech junkies.
You poor bastards, you're unwittingly HELPING the MPAA!!!
If it is shot for IMAX, that would be great. However, I saw Fellowship of the Ring on the gigantic screen at an Edwards Cinema (the screen had to be at least 4-6 stories tall) and was not really all that impressed. The size of the picture was awesome but since the film wasn't designed for that size of projection, all of the action sequences were a horrid combination of blurred-beyond-recognition and "Where do I look?". Kinda ruined the whole vibe. I think the effect would even be worse on IMAX, as most people expect particularly awesome quality.
Bow before my sig, for it is good.
There is no IMAX screen where I live, we have an OMNIMAX, which may be better in some ways. Its similar except that the screen is curved, if you get motion sickness from IMAX you should try OMNIMAX, Its kind of crappy though because they dont make many movies specifically for the OMNIMAX format, most of the films are just IMAX films shot through a special lense, and they get a little distorted. I was kind of disapointed though because they never played Fantasia 2000 there, Im not a big Fantasia fan, but I thought it might be an interesting experience.
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social exper
The movie oligopoly should take a close look at this, and IMAX technology in general, as a treatment for their VCR/PVR/P2P-phobia. Give the public an experience they can't duplicate at home, and they'll keep buying tickets.
Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
Detailing why this isn't a potential violation of the DMCA :)
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
I saw LOTR on their IMAX screen last year. I think they show several regular movies in there, but don't publicize the fact very much. It wasn't listed as an IMAX, except on the sfgate.com site. When I got to the theater, there was no mention of any IMAX hubbub, and I figured it had been a typo on sfgate. But there she was! A screen like a snowhill, huge as all get out.
I'm assuming they just used a different lense, and had it on 35mm. It was a tad grainy, but the immersion factor more than made up for it.
You drank my drink, you drunk!
Um... Wouldn't this sort of thing violate the DMCA? I mean, there is a format conversion going on here...
Every South Park epsiode. Yes I know it's shot for TV but I can dream can't I. I don't post often so I'm making this short post seem longer.
How about Evil Dead 3, Blade 1&2, all my home movies and while they are at it the No Smoking and Locate the Exit clips we see in the front of every movie. Come on, let's put a little effort into making them look good.
....... Thus ends my attempt at wit or whatever
Should Digital Remastering be DRM, not DMR?
The other problem is that IMAX controls (or at least tries to) the content of movies shown on their screens - they don't want anything over PG shown. IMAX operate a lot of the theatres, and puts pressure on the other owners to fall in line.
d ec00_mar01.html
Needless to say, if the slightly-violent Haunted Castle can't make it on the big screen, What Reams May Come is going to stay at 35mm:
http://www.bigmoviezone.com/features/newsinbrief_
If you check the link, you'll also note they announced back in March 2001 that this new technology would be ready "within twelve months"... oops.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
Of course you'd have to clean up the puke in the theater afterwards...
I think IMAX is dumb. But it does seem to satisfy the retards who like everything big. Really big. So big that it's not watchable. People that think IMAX is cool are just as bad as people that drive SUVs, and like to watch monster truck races. Fucking tasteless retards.
I think Saving Private Ryan would be cool in Imax format. Especially the opening scene of the D-Day invasion.
"For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and Long Words Bother Me"
Heavy Metal, The Wall, Wizzards, the original Fantasia (haven't seen the 2k version yet, although I have it on VHS), the animated Hobbit... and of course...
The Kentucky Fried Movie! - especially that clip from "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble"
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
This is horrible news. Now, Imax will stop making and showing movies made especially for that format in favor of cheaper to obtain reformulated Hollywood dreck. Of course they'll still charge the same. I can hardly wait.
National movie theater chains are starting to show mainstream films on IMAX screens. Regal Cinemas lists a dozen IMAX locations, and Cinemark shows three locations, with 4 more under construction. Sony also has four locations. I know at least some of these theaters are showing mainstream films.
Awesome...
KMSMA (WWBD?)
Of course the Sylvia Saint series!! She would look even better in IMAX!
"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds !"
Especially the railgun scene
I agree that the Contact travel scene has to be transferred to IMAX perhaps they could put the travel scenes without Jody in a loop
The first Alien movie
...I want to see "Debbie Does Dallas" in IMAX format. Or, if you can't secure those rights, how about "Deep Throat".
Of COURSE this group is going to want to see gigoundous p0rn! Who the hell wouldn't! duh!!
"Klaatu, verada, necktie!" -Ash
Some years ago I saw an IMAX movie on the physics of the Universe. It included one of the most impressive video sequences I've ever seen, a zoom out from the subatomic (Yes it was of course computer generated, but still impressive), out to earth level consisting of real video, and finally out to space. Can anyone else recall seeing this IMAX film and what its name was?
It was similar to the opening scene in Contact, which would also be impressive on an IMAX screen.
-------------------------------------------------
bladerunner
2001
aliens
alien
One movie that would just be (even more) spectacular in IMAX format would be Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue, in its English/exported version) by Luc Besson (see The Fifth Element, for the non-French ;o).
Atlantis, by L. Besson as well, would also be a must.
Stephane
Fantastic Voyage
Incredible Shrinking Man
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Them!
Giant
The Iron Giant
My Dinner with Andre the Giant
anything with Ray Harryhausen animation
The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse
I've seen machine learning techniques applied to the problem of sharpening images, with impressive results. With enough examples, you can train a system to learn a relationship between sharp images and their blurry derivatives. In a blurry image, you can use data about the neighborhood of pixels around a particular point to make a reasonable guess as to what color pixel should exist at that point in the sharpened image. The cool part is that you can get convincing sharpened results even on blurry images that weren't part of the training set. Rather than just interpolating, you'd use a learned model to make reasonable guesses at adding high-frequency content. Your accuracy is as good as the complexity of your training set, to some degree.
I wonder if Imax is using a similar technique? You might be able to do it by digitizing native 15x70 Imax films and training on blurred versions of those. It'd be nice to know a little more about how their transfer software works.
They showed the original opening of the film in 2.35:1 complete with the black bars* and then followed it up with the IMAX version. Needless to say, it was much better. The whole screen was filled and the quality was great. Also, I think the sound was remixed for their sound systems (which are quite good).
Sign me up for SW and LotR...
*It's been awhile, but I'm almost positive they showed the original before the IMAX version...
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
1. Dr. Zhivago
2. Lawrence of Arabia
see subject.
it was the last major feature shot in true 70mm film.
Q:How many libertarians does it take to stop a Panzer division? A:None. Obviously market forces will take care of it.
Here in San Francisco, the Loews Cinemas Metreon theater complex regularly screens first-run films on their IMAX screen, if the demand is there. I've seen "Apocalypse Now Redux" in the IMAX theater, as well as "Minority Report," and maybe some others. I think the first film they did this with was "The Matrix."
... what? $58? No thanks.
As far as I'm concerned, the movies look just fine as it is. I'm betting that one of the criteria is that the theater have a 70mm print available, but otherwise it's great. The picture stretches to both edges of the screen (though not the full height). So long as it's not an old, battered print, the image looks fine. Sound is great.
I think what IMAX is offering here is to take a film and blow it up to full IMAX specs. As far as I can tell, all this means is that IMAX will be able to capitalize on what's already common practice -- IMAX theaters screening non-IMAX movies on the big screen.
So let's see. Average cost of a 120 minute film on a regular screen at the Metreon? $9.50. Average cost of a 20 minute IMAX movie at the Metreon? $9.50. Average cost of a full-length IMAX format film, then, would be
Breakfast served all day!
It just has to be David Lean's
;)
Lawrence or Arabia
Not the best film of all time, but one of the greats. The shots of the desert simply take my breath away. And I've only ever seen it on TV.
And on IMAX?
Well, I'd probably wet my pants
Do you mind, your karma has just run over my dogma.
In no particular order:
1. Tron
2. The Matrix
3. Star Wars (all)
4. Terminator 2
4. The Lord of the Rings (all)
5. Titanic
6. Bladerunner
10.)2001 a space Odysesy
9.)Dances With Wolves
8.)The Shining (esp the hallway big-wheel scenes)
7.)Gladiator
6.)Star Trek 3 (& only 3)
5.)Star Wars (episode whatever)
4.)Apollo 13
3.)Aliens
2.)Brazil
and the number one film to see on IMAX is of course...
1.)Blade Runner
www.avacal.com -- the home page of pete shaw
Of course at that point the film reels would be generating measurable tidal forces, but that'll just be more incentive for theaters to go digital.
DDB (who still thinks Space Station 3D rocks.)
Life is like surrealism: if you have to have it explained to you, you can't afford it.
Actually, at the navy pier imax near me they do show standard release films on the giant screen.. not sure how, they may just have a 35mm projector up there.
Anyways, I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Crouching Tigher, Hidden Dragon on that screen... CTHD was much more exciting to watch. Seeing that movie on a screen that massive was quite memorable, and I recommend it to anyone.
If you're in chicago, I recommend visiting the navy pier imax one weekend when they are showing a feature film.. Unfortunately, I don't think they do it that often.
-gleam
this
My Dinner with Andre! It really deserves the big screen for all the action. Like when the waiter comes with the wine!
But then, the idea of meatloaf in a garter belt on a screen the size of a small city just scares the living hell out of me. Maybe some things were just not meant for IMAX.
Shayne
Today I didn't even have to use my AK; I got to say it was a good day -- Icecube
i saw "IMAX Develops Movie Transfer Technology" then i though i saw DRM and i was like wow! people are pirating IMAX!
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
The FTC shoould mandate that all future movies are to be shot in High Def. Then the masses will find a reason to switch.
Imagine a porno star waving his huge schlong at the audience and then shooting his hot steamy load at them. Watch them duck. That would be a serious money shot. Or better yet having a starlett wave her huge gazongas at the audience and have them sway back and forth. It would be great!
What could be better than tron on iMAX? I think i've been waiting years for that to happen.
Now that the only IMAX theater within 250 miles has closed down here...
Apocalyspe now, redux.
"i Love the smell of napalm in the morning."
"Humanize war? You might as talk about humanizing hell!" -- British Admiral Jacky Fisher
Anyway I've been following the production of this thing for years and I don't believe this particular idea ever got out of the "idea" phase.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I believe IMAX is a canadian company. A canadian friend of mine often bragged that there were a lot of IMAX screens in canada in malls etc.
i can't verify this though without a google search.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
that is a truly impressive list of some of the worst movies ever made. Shit, I didn't know Sister Act even had a sequel.
Tron! Tron! Tron! I want my mega-Tron(?)
Can you imagine seeing the lightbike race in IMAX mode? I get shivers just thinking about it!
Tron vs. RIAA - "He fights for the users"
-"END OF LINE"
Never trust a bald barber; he has no respect for your hair
Not "shooted and send back to earth"!
It's "Shooted and sending back to urth"!
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I think the point of their process is to avoid multiple 35mm generations between the camera negative and release print. If you blow up the camera negative to 70mm and stay at 70mm throughout the print-making process, the result will look (marginally) better than a release print made from 35mm intermediates.
Of course this process isn't going to achieve the same quality as if you actually recorded 70mm film in the camera. But cutting out one or two generations of 35mm printing can help - e.g. SW:Episode II had very little grain in the film release prints, since they were all first-generation copies of ILM's digitally-recorded negatives.
According to the IMAX WWW site: http://www.imax.com/
the first movie to use this technology wil
be APOLLO-13, with Tom Hanks.
This is the Release on the site:
Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and IMAX Corporation bring Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience to IMAX screens worldwide.
Apollo 13 tells the dramatic true story of the heroic actions needed to bring a three-astronaut crew safely back to Earth after the Apollo 13 space mission suffered catastrophic mechanical problems en route to the Moon. Made with NASA's collaboratioin, the highly-suspenseful film is scientifically and historically accurate. Apollo 13 features strong performances from the ensemble cast, led by Oscar®-winning actor Tom Hanks, and brilliant direction by Ron Howard, another Oscar winner. Apollo 13 will be digitally re-mastered into IMAX's 15/70 format using the revolutionary IMAX DMRTM technology.
... Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!
;)
No other drugs needed
there are a couple of reasons.
the first is the same reason people buy bigger televisions and monitors. because even with the same source, bigger is often nicer (more immersing, etc). also, many people can be farther away and have the same view that few people had with a 35mm print. the success of 70mm projectors for 35mm movies is not because theatre-goers are tricked, it's because it really is nicer. although it is *nothing* compared to a 70mm negative, like Laurence of Arabia.
the second reason is that wear will be dramatically reduced vis a vis the size of the image. an imax frame is something like 70mm X 120mm (?). a plain 35mm frame is something like 20mm X 35mm (totally sans calculator). so a scratch, dirt whatever is much less visible on imax.
there are also differences in the screen technology, but I really don't know enough about that to comment on it.
There aint no pancake so thin it doesn't have two sides.
Cowboy Bebop, all 26 episodes with the movie shown in the correct order. I will be the first in line.
I took my German cousins to the Kennedy Space Center. Everything there was dual-language (I'm American, they speak zero English), except the IMAX movies.
So, from personal experience, IMAX people need to pull those sticks out from their rear-ends, and allow translations of their movies!
In the words of Red Foreman: "Dumbasses!"
Torsten
This movie is beautiful enough on my TV set, I'd love to see it projected onto a huge IMAX screen. Amelie is definitly one of the best shot and most gorgeous movie's I've ever seen. The only bad thing about having it IMAXized is Amelie's already big eyes would be almost frightengly large. But a small price to pay to see it on the big, big screen.
FYI...
VistaVision was a 35mm horizontal process that was used by such greats as Alfred Hitchcock and George Lucas (in certain Star Wars effect sequences). The conversion to IMAX for the opening sequence of star wars may turn out better than anyone could imagine since it was already larger than 35, and already horizontal!
here's a good guide on the larger than 35 mm formats (including VistaVision, IMAX, 65mm, and 70mm) that will hopefully clear any confusion.
When you scan an image, and print it, you are probably going to get the same results whether you use the "optical" resolution and the "software enhanced" resolution. Why? You're going to print them out the same size. Your eye cannot see any difference in detail.
Enlarging 35mm film to make 70mm IMAX movies is different. Why? By making the image bigger, you are being more lenient on the limitations on the film projector, the film quality, and the human eye. To a person with binoculars in a perfect theater in perfect light using perfect film, there would be no difference. But, in typical conditions, you would see an immense improvement, since the bigger image allows your limited vision to see more, the film grain to be less, and so on.
Karma: Excellent (fuck, even in the future moderation doesn't work!)
Why?
Because Lord of the Rings on IMAX in Edmonton sucked! (ie, 35mm projector onto massive screen)
it was very grainy/blurry, and the jittering gave me a migraine.
So they may not be increasing the information content so it's not theoretically a better picture, but they are immensively improving the transfer of that information to my brain.
Bryan
Baraka in IMAX. A transfer from the 70mm originals would be awesome.
Debbie does CowboyNeal
Ones I would Like to see are... 1. Underworld - Everything, Everything (Greatest argument for drugs I got) 2. Woodstock 3. Last Waltz 4. U2 - Zooropa
"Hot Skin in 3D". It's a 3D porno staring John Holmes. I saw it once in a movie theater in Santa Cruz. So if we go from 35mm to 70... it's gonna look alot bigger than 13 inches.
So what movies would you want to see on IMAX?
Anal Butt Sluts (with Lea Sthepson).
after many years of viewing stuff at the Fort Worth OmniMax dome. I saw my first IMAX movie last year and I was like... What is so special about this? It is just big. At least with OmniMax they can dangle you off a cliff. My favorite part of OmniMax movies at the Fort Worth Museum is the opening demo of a helicopter flyover of Fort Worth. The whole audience gasps at the same time because you get the immediate sensation that you are hanging from the skids on the helicopter. I also like being able to look up over and around to see other things. It feels more like you are there. If you've only tried Imax and not OmniMax you HAVE to try it!
I want tentacle rape anime.
How about Quake? you would probably need a BeoWolf cluster to run at the required resolution.
:)
- Theres two cliches in one post
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Tron was originally released in 70mm six-track (mag stripe analog). There were some 35mm prints made too, but it was always intended for 70mm, and was shown that way in many cities in its original release. The sound track on these new prints was probably not remixed, just transferred to digital. It was already "multi-channel".
Free Hans!
- BARNEY and the Care Bears, and lets not forget, Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles
in IMAX, Hey just redo the entire 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's in IMAX Very Smart MoveI think this conversion is good, as in promising possibilities. However, since it seems that there is such differences in theaters, then won't that be a technical challenge of itself to overcome? If I go into a normal movie theater, I pretty much know what to expect. While there are some high class theaters that increase the enjoyment by providing slight convexity of the screen, plus better insulated sound, comfy seats etc... I know it all falls under a very similar set. IMAX theaters can vary the experience drastically, yet this could very well lead to some interesting effects and dare I say it 'customized movies'?
I haven't been able to watch a closeup without laughing for 20 years. I read an Al Goldstein review of a scene that remarked how much it looked like "two brillo pads fighting over a hot dog".
Share the meme.
deep throat, devil in miss jones, and Debbie Does Goatse.
it's a gay film for gaylords.
I want to see the scene where the Dogtown surfers are rocketing through the carcass of the old Pacific Ocean Park pier in IMAX. Worth the cost of admission alone.
"You'll never hear surf music again" -- Jimi Hendrix
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
What kind of monster is a giant moth and spitting pupas? Now a three headed dragon with lightning is a monster!
--- I would prefer a prehensile tail....
Perils of Gwendoline
Alien from L.A.
Necessary Roughness
oh yeah.
Really great suggestion there...that would rock.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
IMAX is the wrong aspect ratio for most movies.
The proportions are almost like TV (about 1.4:1), whereas most movies made in the last 50 years are much wider than that (some are more than twice as wide). Nearly all movies seen in theatres in the last 20-30 years are one of two aspect ratios -- 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. Fitting those wider frames into an IMAX frame presents exactly the same problem that showing them on TV does. You have to fit a rectangle into a square, rougly speaking. That means either letterbox or pan-and-scan.
However, Apollo 13 will probably transfer to IMAX fairly well, because it was shot in Super 35, which even though it usually is used to produce a 2.35:1 widescreen image, actually has a negative area that is much more squarish (again, about 1.4:1). So I would imagine that the IMAX transfer will make use of that extra image area. For more info on Super-35 see here, about 3/4ths the way down the page.
Still, many of the movies people mentioned in this article were shot in widescreen processes other than Super-35, and would have to either be severely cropped, or letterboxed within the IMAX frame, in order to be shown from IMAX projectors.
The right thing to do would be to bring back 5-perforation 70mm, which has a nice wide aspect ratio of 2.20:1. During the years from about 1976-1996, most major studio releases had at least some 5-perf 70mm prints struck. Chances are, if you went to the movies in a major US city during that time, you saw a number of films in 70mm six-track, perhaps without even knowing it. (The process was killed off by digital sound in the mid-to-late 1990s.) Everyone saying "I want to see Star Wars!" should realize that it has already been released in 70mm -- back in 1977.
Of course, 5-perf 70mm existed long before the years I just listed, but it was mainly used for films that were actually shot in 65mm. The time period I'm referring to is merely when 35mm->70mm optical blow-ups were popular. This new IMAX process sounds like a bit of a throwback to those days, but at the expense of correct aspect ratios. And the blow-up is now done digitally rather than optically.
Not only is IMAX the wrong aspect ratio for a lot of movies, it's also incompatible standard feature films in many other ways. 35mm feature films these days are shot with lots of tight close-ups and quick cuts, and if you look at the IMAX Filmmaker's Manual, they very clearly suggest that you not do things like that, because they are very jarring on the IMAX screen!
Due to the above problems, I think people are likely to be disappointed with this in the long run. IMAX is probably pushing this idea because they are hoping this will boost their stock price.
Free Hans!
"Original IMAX uses 70mm film to get 4x the negative area (hence they can resolve quite a bit more detail than standard film)."
Conventional 70mm movie film is 70mm wide by 5 perforations tall. IMAX is rotated 90 degrees, 70mm tall by 15 perforations wide. According to the online brochure, that is 10x the area of a conventional 35mm movie frame. (http://www.imax.com/)
I'd settle for "Knocking On Heaven's Door: Cowboy Bebop, The Movie". That would rule.
Also "Evangelion: Death & Rebirth" and "End Of Evangelion" would be cool.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I saw Men In Black in an "IMAX Theatre". They blow up the movie as large as it gets, and then leave about 75% of the screen unused. At that size you already get annoyingly fuzzy pictures.
Sure they can remaster the thing to IMAX media, but that won't really make it less fuzzy. The information to do that simply isn't there.
Roger.
HERE HERE!
I know IMAX theartres are struggling for survival, though apparently less so these past few years, and releasing 35 mm versions of movies on 70mm film could bring in additional revenue... at the cost of what makes the theartre interesting. This would be just, in essence, a large 35mm theartre with no additional film quality. Perhaps Episode 3 could be shot with a camera holding enough pixels to make it worthwile, but quite honestly Lucas's "digital" theartre experience looked more like a moving series of crisply colored legos than a film.
Equally doubtful would be studios (and filmmakers) shooting in IMAX and paring down to 35mm (which would be the proper process), as IMAX cameras aren't exactly standard in the studio backlots. Especially now that everyone is transitioning to a first-gen digital which reduces rather than increases studio costs.
Sadly, IMAX theartres would probably be well advised to switch to good 'old 35 mm permanently... Many of the jitters and color problems have been solved over the years, and for every wonderful IMAX documentary there are five incredible 35mm films that never see nationwide release.
-Chris
The ______ Agenda
What I hate about iMax
Big isn't all there is... and it's used too much in iMax. Many times I have seen iMax films and the shooting is just horrible. The whole point of iMax (or OmniMax) is to fill your perephiral vision with the image, or show more. One thing I hate is iMax movies where the person is 7 stories tall and I'm less than 15 feet from the screen. It is nauseating and gives me a headache. I prefer when the director shoots it so the main action is about the same size as a normal movie, yet you have all this other stuff going on around it. That is what iMax was meant for. Otherwise you can have the entire front 10 -20 rows of the theater. pr0n at that size would require an entire different way of doing things for sure.
The other annoying thing about iMax is the gad-aweful flicker! It needs at least 3 times the framerate
See the Pictures of the Flood of '08
Ttwo things may be at work here:
(1) Extensive digital filtering, possibly as a 2D + time process. It doesn't increase the lines/mm the original held, but it can sharpen up the edges and interpolate the positions.
(2) The more pedestrian approach, where you don't actually improve on the original but do avoid degrading it on the next-generation copy. But I can't see them getting a patent on that, since the MPAA/RIAA has published prior art by telling us everything they want to ban.
One of the Reagal theatres over here in IL has one IMAX screen.. and they play normal movies on it when they aren't playing IMAX movies. It's pretty sweet.. It's still pretty sweet to see the movie on the REAL big screen with a very decent sound system..:-D.
They need to add smileys to Slashdot comments..
Hmm, skin flicks come to mind--the plotless the better.
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
Howard the Duck
Ishtar
The Postman (well, maybe you covered this with Waterworld... pretty much any Kevin Costner flick would fit the bill :o)
...It wasn't remastered or anything; it was just a standard 35 mm print projected onto the large IMAX screen. I thought it was a pretty good experience. As others have pointed out, "remastering" is not going to add any information content to the film. Who cares whether a 35 mm image is projected directly onto an IMAX-sized screen, or the same 35 mm image is first blown up to 70 mm and then projected onto an IMAX-sized screen?
If they want to say that the process aviods image degradation by skipping a few generations of copies, fine, but this "remastering for a better image" is a bunch of hooey. Give us some technical details!
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
Now think about these closeups on IMAX. Gaping orifices of every level of hygeine standing several stories high? I don't know about you, but that sounds more "nauseating" than "erotic."
I think it's probably the ladies that are requesting it...
"And like that
...Microcosmos.
RMN
~~~
I've seen the two Disney IMAX releases (Fantasia 2000 and Beauty and the Beast), and was roundly disappointed, as was my wife, who's one of the biggest Disney freaks imaginable. The big problem for me was that the IMAX screen is so big, you have to make a conscious decision where to look. This works well for most of the IMAX-specific films, where there's either one obvious thing to look at (e.g., the mountain in the middle of the screen) or you're being shown a large panorama where looking around at different things is fine.
But present-day movies are shot and edited from the perspective of a smaller, standard theater-sized screen, where you can take in the whole image at once, and where the director and editor use that fact to design the images you see -- they're deciding what you're going to be looking at and paying attention to. Show one of these movies on IMAX, and it's like watching TV with a telescope -- you've got a great view of a small area, but you miss the whole. If a character comes in from one side of the screen while you're looking at the other side, it doesn't just take a shift of attention to see them, it takes a head movement. And, as happened with the Disney releases, you end up missing more than you see.
Having said that:
* Yes, I'd LOVE to see parts of "Dark City" on an IMAX sized screen, just to appreciate the visuals.
* The real question to ask is "What would do if he/she did a movie that was planned to be IMAX-sized from the beginning?" -- where the screen size and shape is factored into the creative decisions from the beginning. We have one example of this, but I'm doing my best to forget about "Captain Eo"...
They also need to get rid of Jasper the friendly Hutt, not to mention some of the other comic CGI additions.
I wonder if Lucas is ever going to take movie-making seriously again? He seems to be catering to his test audiences, and ignoring his own vision. His early movies, like THX1138 and the original Star Wars, were art. Maybe his newer dumbed-down movies make more money, but what good does that extra money do for him if he never uses it to create more art?
Star Wars I and II could have been epics -- classic movies that live long into the future. Instead, by sabotaging the movies with the likes of Jar Jar and Kung-Fu Yoda, he destroyed their integrity, and reduced them to the level of just another summer hit.
exactly.
as if mild-mannered geeks didn't feel innadequate enough already
The Wall. Definitely, The Wall.
How about Pink Floyd's P.U.L.S.E. video?
/that/ would be a sight to see. If any of you haven't seen it yet then get it out now, and prepare to pick your jaw up off the floor at least a dozen times. The visuals are legendary, but when coupled with some brilliant music (Gilmour's playing is phenomenal) it's a must-see.
*drools*
Now
-- No, no gems to be found in this sig.
Seeing certain body parts stand three stories tall might be a little intimidating.
"What movies would you want to see...
Gee, seemed just last week that everybody here hated the MPAA, and weren't going to any more movies.
Either Slashdot's audience is significantly fragmented, or there's an awful lot of fickleness going on around here...
...and this country's ONLY imax went out of business a few months ago. It was part of a larger multiplex that had 8 or so conventional cinemas - so this technology may well have saved them.
You really can't blame us for not watching "Dinosaurs return!" or whatever other tripe they usually play there, can you?
Can't you already watch movies on iMacs?
My vote for a cool movie to Imax would be that British (American Produced) Horror Movie "Dog Soldiers" which has to be the ultimate Werewolf Movie...better than the Howling movies and even "american werewolf in London". Too bad it's only been shown on Scifi channel and has yet to show in theaters here in North America. Go see its web site www.dogsoldiersmovie.com or www.dogsoldiers.co.uk
oldie but goodie. it will be a good start.
Yeah, so it predates a lot of the newfangled CGI stuff, but it is hands down one of the best suspense sci-fi flicks ever made. I wanna see the part where the astronaut looks down into the alien egg case and the thing blasts out of the case, melts through his helmet and attaches itself to his face. I tossed a bucket of popcorn over my head on a regular screen for that one. I'd probably wet my pants with IMAX. And then the part where the fetal alien pops out of the dude's chest at breakfast. Easily one of the most memorable scenes in sci-fi moviedom.
Fried ice cream is a reality. - George Clinton
The red stapler is gonna be freaking huge :-)
Pedro
----
The Insomniac Coder
Ahhh, I can't wait. I just hope those seats aren't sticky.
This is just another revenue path for the motion picture industry to milk the suckers... er, I mean fans.
Pay once, maybe twice, to see it in the theaters.
Pay again to see it on DVD.
Pay again for the special edition DVD.
Pay again to see the director's cut.
Pay yet again for the digitally remastered Drew Barrymore let's-get-rid-of-all-the-guns cut.
And pay one last time to see it on the IMAX screen.
Have I missed any?
In no particular order:
- Lord of the Rings
- Blade Runner
- Alien
- King Kong (the original)
- The Ten Commandments
- Gone With The Wind
- The Wizard of Oz
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (even if many of the others were better movies)
- Ben Hur
- Dune
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- The Matrix
- Jason and the Argonauts
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- The Secret of NIMH
- Dinosaur (light movie, but good computer animation)
- Final Fantasy
- Saturday Night Fever (but only once)
- Amadeus
- Powaqqatsi and Koyaanisqatsi
- Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
- Apocalypse Now
- Star Wars (the original, not the remaster)
- Terminator (it's better than T2)
- Predator
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Ghostbusters
- The Fifth Element
- Forbidden Planet
- It Came From Beneath The Sea (yeah, it's a B-movie)
- All That Jazz
- Woodstock
- The Wall: Live in Berlin
- Die Hard
- Dr. Strangelove
- The Haunting (the original)
- (a big western - can't think of one)
- (an old big musical - can't think of which is best)
Apollo 13 - The IMAX Experience is the first due out. In a fluff piece released this past spring Ron Howard enthused:
Also listed as under production are:For those concerned about image quality a few thoughts:
- Many of the digital images in Apollo 13 are being re-rendered for this new release. Likely the true is same for the CGI in Lion King.
- Where the source material isn't digital and isn't photographic but animation cels it may be reasonable to go back and re-scan them. Or it is likely that companies like Disney had some foresight and did super-high resolution scans early in their production process and those can now be transferred to the IMAX stock.
- Finally, and this was explained to me at a party several months ago in Toronto, IMAX was apparently looking into creating composite images from multiple film frames to enhance the detail on each. Thus even though each 35mm frame only has 1/10th the resolution of an IMAX frame the series of these in a scene can be digitally massaged up to comparable quality.
Lastly note that these are IMAX-releases, not the same cuts as have been released before. The same as Cinemascope and other like large formats don't translate well to the small-screen or often even other projection-process screens it is doubtful material intended for today's conventionial screens would be visually appropriate on the super-size IMAX ones without rework.I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
For Imax it would help to have a high quality image to start with. By the way, does anyone know how Frank Hurley's amazing footage from the turn of the 20th century was transferred to Imax for the "Antartica" documentary, and what film size he used. It's a pity most of his cine film and plate negatives were dumped in the ocean.
"Some 50 people were evacuated from an IMAX theater today after the premiere of the new pornography movie "Bizzarre Fetishes:Pee,Nuns and Vegetables". At least 45 were hospitalised with stomach injuries from inhuman amounts of vomitting."
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
That's a pretty simple-minded solution..ever hear "costs"?It's not free to switch millions of dollars of equipment into high-definition.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Baraka converted from 70mm would be a great trip at that scale.
just for starters.....(I know some have already been mentioned)
Lawrence of Arabia
40,000 Horsemen
Saving Private Ryan
Bladerunner
Alien
Midway
Tora! Tora! Tora!
LeMans
Bullitt
Blues Brothers (for the chase)
Duel
Akira
Flesh For Frankenstein (3D)
Star Wars Ep IV (Opening scene and Death Star trench scenes would be the best)
Kagemusha
The Magnificent Seven
Psycho
The Birds
Zulu
MrCreosote Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump!Meow!Thump! "You're right! There isn't enough room to swing a cat in here!"
Quentin Tarantino's last film screening had it on 35mm in Austin, TX; I missed it. Thank you high school.
nt
Leningrad Kowboys on IMAX on Vodki with a penguin
I believe Pixar reframed and rerendered A Bug's Life for the video release (full 4:3 frame). Of course more people will buy the DVD/VHS than would go to the IMAX theatre.
"Yeah well
Close, but not complete. The companies that did the CGI were Able, Magi, Digital Effects and III (Information International). Tim was at Able. Able did the smallest amount of the job, and I think they had a large mini-computer (Harris, Gould?). Magi was in New York, and they may be the ones with the IBM box. III had a custom built fast version of the PDP-10 called the Foonly, I think the F-2 model. III did the Solar Sailor, and Magi did the racers, which were not polygonal models, but some sort of implict surface. I don't remember what Able or Digital Efects did.
I did not work on Tron, but I did work for one of following early CGI companies, Digital Productions. After Tron, III got out of the movie business. (Earlier they had done Westworld.) The F-2 computer went to Omnibus, a Canadian company that was on the Paramount lot. It was used to do 'Flight of the Navigator', which still shows on late night TV. DP got a Cray-XMP and did 'The Last Starfighter' and the Jupiter simulation for 2010. DP got the III film printer, which was called the DFP or Digital Film Printer. It was the first film output unit specifically built for doing movies. I worked on the Cray driver software for the DFP, and the proud owner of the front pannel switches. By the way, the graphics software on the Foonly and Cray was written in Fortran and assembler. Cray assembly language is a bitch!
..and possibly UHF.
IMAX should dump film and just record everything on 80GIG HDs in the cameras, then dump to 3000x3000 MJPEG2 or something on a 4.7GIG DVDR 20min/DVD. Thats 4MEG/second which is enough for 2x resolution of film 1280+. Then just get a DLP projector that can read dvds, and have a multi-cd changer with 256meg ram BUFFER ($40 really) Surely thats cheaper then printing $20000USD prints which is what each IMAX film roll costs, a handfull of 10 DVDs, bargin $100. Why are these people in control so anal and backwards, if G.Lucas can do it why cant they, it will reduce costs hugely per film, even though they each IMAX cinema might need to spend $400k in projectors, that will be saved in 12months by reduced film processing and cheaper distribution. Too many old hats are so pro analog when digital at high end is good enough. --------- BTW SLASH DOT BUGS ---- the 20 second submit bug, i hit once, it fails says you cant post, then i hit again 18seconds later as a diff user and it says 18seconds too quick Who codes these silly algo rules?????
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Can't see the negative in this comment... at least deserves a +1 Funny, IMNSHO.
At the Regal Cinemas in Opry Mills (Yes, Nashville, TN) they have been putting 35mm films on for some time (starting with Gladiator). They usually put the newest and most hyped movie on the screen, but they also improve the quality every time.
Other movies I've seen on there include Castaway, Jurassic Park III, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lord of the Rings, Spiderman (which was so large that to read the newspapers that spun up you had to actually move your entire head from left to right), and most recently MIB II.
I can't really complain of lack of quality, it always seems almost as clear as a regular screen theatire. Whenever they explain the technology behind blowing the film up they always attribute it to the use of special lenses.
That post was funny as hell...troll....I don't think so. Just because you mention Goatse.cx doesn't make it a troll. Besides I kinda think Goatse is one of those running inside /. jokes
MOD IT UP MAN!!!!!!!!!!!
TERMINATOR 1,2,and 3!!!!
Thanks for filling in my faulty memory - On further reflection, I think there was a guy from Magi there - at least, I distinctly remember a person in that discussion talking about coding for an S/360 mainframe. Maybe there was more that one FX guy at the roundtable, or I could be pulling Tim McGovern's name from somewhere else.
I bet that cray assembly is a pain - I really can't even imagine how to begin approaching the problems of hand-coding and -optimization for a large vector processor like the Cray.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
... a close shave on IMAX would be awesome
OK.... ...
or Alien
or Blade Runner
Hey! How about ISHTAR!!!
- I am made of meat.
or even scarier...can't they do 3D IMAX?
If I really wanted to see a sci-fi movie on IMAX; it would be the 5th element. Honestly, I think it's still the sharpest looking sci-fi movie. Rather than concentrating on digital effects, they spent more time on the designs of sets and costumes. It shows.
Not to mention Milla. Say all you will about the beauty of Natalie Portman - she doesn't have the rawness and directness of Milla.
Stop the brainwash
...that no-one has mentioned a film that would be gut-wrenchingly awesome in IMAX if done properly.
DAS BOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COME ON!!!!!!!! the huge fully 3d life inside a u-boat, complete with claustraphobia inducing action.
It would be awesome. And i dont mean the pansy release version, i mean the full 6 hour ride. It was seriallised in 6 1 hour shows once here in the uk and i loved it.
Seb
ok... imma play some CS. i need volunteers to watch my health and armor, one watching the radar, another one watching when to reload, oh and one to relay me all what they say.
With a bigger print, you can shine more light through it for a sensible intensity. That way it looks much better blown up to such a huge size than the intensity levels they are having to use to blow a 35mm print onto a full IMAX screen. The 'amazing' technique they are using to get better transfers between the 35mm master and the IMAX print isn't that interesting, but as anyone who has seen the rather muddy effects of blowing a 35mm print that big will testify, this will help.
Basically, its not going to look anywhere near as good as a proper IMAX film, but it will look a lot better than current gimmick attempts at showing Star Wars, The Matrix etc. in IMAX theaters.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Come on,
/. readers. All this time has passed and not one person mentioned Army of Darkness. Wouldn't you just love to see Bruce up on the IMAX kicking the crap out of the evil dead? Of course, get the right version and you have the p0rn aspect in it as well.
I'm actually disappointed in the fellow
%blow
%blow: No such job
^how did the sex change go?
Modifier failed
In no particular order (I love them all):
Apocalypse Now (it scares the shit out of the gooks!)
Alien (put on a nappy before entering cinema)
Aliens (love the sound of the marine's guns!)
Full Metal Jacket (picturing Drill Sergeant screaming at me)
Saving Private Ryan (err... stunning)
The Great Escape (can you say motorbike chase?)
Terminator (one of the best action movies of all time)
Terminator 2 (the truck chase would be sooo scary!)
2001: A Space Odessey (drop acid beforehand)
Lawrence of Arabia (magnificent)
Bullit (car chase - whoop whoop!)
Dirty Harry (funky)
Predator (well, because!)
Die Hard (one of the best action movies of all time)
Die Hard 2 (bloodier and more action!)
The Matrix (woah!)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (beautiful scenery)
Lord Of The Rings (oooh)
There's many more I can't think of now, but basically any movie in superwidescreen format - I'm talking 2.35:1 minimum aspect here! (or good action movies) =D
My dream is for Alamo Drafthouse to work out a deal with IMAX to show Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with complimentary LSD.
We can't stop here. This is bat country!
-l
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Nothing else will cut it.
Or sex, at least.
More probably, sex is the primary driver of everything.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
I believe IMAX also uses a higher frame rate--something like 60fps. They also use some of the most powerful light bulbs in the world. I hope one day they will get DLP up to the resolution of IMAX. IMAX looks almost real.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Many movies are filmed in formats that have no extra information outside the widescreen image area. Those movies would either have to be cropped or letterboxed to be shown in IMAX.
Free Hans!