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Big Screen Technologies
IMAX
The origins
Cinerama was popular in the 1950s as it allowed audiences to watch films on larger screens and in widescreen.
20th Century Fox introduced CinemaScope - a widescreen format that allowed films to be projected at almost twice the width.
Both were obsolete by the end of the 1960s
IMAX - short for Image Maximum The traditional version of IMAX has
the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems.
A standard IMAX screen is 22 metres wide and 16.1 metres high, but can vary.
IMAX is the most widely used system for large-format, special-venue film presentations.
As of April 2009, there are 320 IMAX theatres in 42 countries (65% of these are located in Canada and the United States).
Around 40% are found in educational centres( museums)
Variations of the format include IMAX Dome (using a tilted dome screen), IMAX 3D and IMAX Digital.
The first IMAX film, Tiger Child was demonstrated in Osaka, Japan.
The first permanent IMAX system was set up in Toronto, 1971.
The London IMAX
Built in May 1999.
It seats just under 500 and has a 12,000 Watt digital surround sound system.
A different experience
The IMAX experience is one of “immersion”.
It offers huge, digital surround sound systems and images that enter the front and peripheral vision.
Originally most IMAX films offered the non-narrative experience of being under the sea or in space and were essentially just “showing off” the technology.
Concerns
Could an audience physically withstand this for longer than the usual hour long IMAX films?
The release of films like Harry Potter, The Polar Express, Batman Begins and Superman Returns in IMAX format proved very popular.
Since 2002 more and more films have been re-mastered and released in IMAX format.
The Dark Knight
featured the opening sequence shot using IMAX technology.
It was the "first time ever that a major feature film has been even partially shot using IMAX cameras".
It broke box office records for IMAX, taking in about $6.3 million from 94 theatres in the U.S. and Canada over the opening weekend.
The record for an IMAX opening weekend (as of May 2009) was set by Star Trek: The IMAX Experience, at $8.3 million.
Key questions
Why is IMAX a popular format?
What does the popularity of IMAX mean for the film industry?
How does IMAX technology effect the production, distribution and exhibition of films?
The Dark Knight
Warner Bros. held the world premiere for The Dark Knight in New York City on July 14, 2008, screening in an IMAX cinema with the film's composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer playing a part of the film score live.
Released July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom
In the United States and Canada it was distributed to 4,366 cinemas, breaking the previous record for the highest number of cinemas held by Pirates of the Caribbean
Warner Bros. re-released the film in traditional cinemas and IMAX cinemas in January 2009 to further the films chances of winning an Oscar.
Home Exhibition
Included: a one-disc edition DVD a two-disc Special Edition DVD a two-disc edition BluRay a Special Edition BluRay package
featuring a statuette of the Bat- a four-disc Batman Begins/The Dark
Knight pack on DVD pod
Key Question
How did Warner Bros distribute the film “The Dark Knight” to ensure that it reached the widest audience possible?