Should I go see Star Wars in true 70mm IMAX? (Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville AL)

[Exterous]

We'll likely be near Huntsville Alabama in late December and I see that they are showing the new Star Wars movie at the 70mm IMAX theater at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Anyone have any experiences with this theater and if it would be worth it to see it in true 70mm?

 

[Eug]

70 mm Dark Knight was an epiphany.

I didn't know Star Wars was partially shot in 70 mm. Thanks for informing me. I guess I'll head downtown to our Toronto 70 mm IMAX theatre.

EDIT:

Damn! No 2D 70 mm version. Just 3D. I don't like 3D so much.

 

[mnewsham]

70mm is ~9.3K resolution, so it is the highest resolution you will be able to see the new movie in. There are also several scenes shot specifically in 70mm so you wont see these shots in any other theater. If this is important to you, then you know what to do.


I personally plan on seeing it in IMAX w/ laser which uses 2x 4K projectors, which provides an 8K resolution, so slightly lower res than the 70mm IMAX, however the contrast ratio on IMAX w/ laser is far superior to 70mm IMAX.




Basically though, 70mm will provide the largest possible resolution.


My 70mm IMAX experience is based off the Lockheed Martin IMAX theater in DC at the Smithsonian air and space museum watching the dark knight. It was pretty solid.

 

[olds]

No, wait till it comes out on NBC.

 

[Eug]

Ouch. 3D laser IMAX is CAD$20 per ticket, plus the stupid $1.50 convenience fee for ordering online.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... There are only 15 places in the entire world that will have the original 2D 70 mm Star Wars.

There is only one in Canada, and strangely enough it's in my hometown of Regina, which only has a population of less than 200000. I currently live in Toronto which has a population of over 6 million (Metro Toronto), but no such luck.

 

[zinfamous]

70 mm Dark Knight was an epiphany.

I didn't know Star Wars was partially shot in 70 mm. Thanks for informing me. I guess I'll head downtown to our Toronto 70 mm IMAX theatre.

EDIT:

Damn! No 2D 70 mm version. Just 3D. I don't like 3D so much.

aye, that's the problem. I avoid IMAX for this because it only exists in shit 3D as far as I can tell (around here, anyway)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Star Wars at a place called "Space & Rocket Center" sounds like a no brainer to me.

 

[zinfamous]

70mm is ~9.3K resolution, so it is the highest resolution you will be able to see the new movie in. There are also several scenes shot specifically in 70mm so you wont see these shots in any other theater. If this is important to you, then you know what to do.


I personally plan on seeing it in IMAX w/ laser which uses 2x 4K projectors, which provides an 8K resolution, so slightly lower res than the 70mm IMAX, however the contrast ratio on IMAX w/ laser is far superior to 70mm IMAX.




Basically though, 70mm will provide the largest possible resolution.


My 70mm IMAX experience is based off the Lockheed Martin IMAX theater in DC at the Smithsonian air and space museum watching the dark knight. It was pretty solid.

huh, is that true? Dark Knight and DNK returns had a few 70mm scenes, and they were shown in all formats. It's not like the scenes were cut out for 35mm presentations, and it's not that there is some technical reason that requires this.

Has this actually been said, or are you simply inferring that this is what is going to happen because only some of the scenes are true 70mm? It would be a first.

(also, plenty of old westerns shot in large formats and presented in 35mm)

that being said, I have the same options as you do re: local IMAX, but I don't think I can go to either because they are both 3D only from what I can tell.

Also, max resolution isn't that important of a factor for superior quality...especially if this comes with some horrible 60hz or whatever and everything looks fake and plastic. (But I'm pretty sure this wasn't shot at gross frame rates and I haven't seen it advertised as being presented in such ways, so at least there is that)

 

[Eug]

huh, is that true? Dark Knight and DNK returns had a few 70mm scenes, and they were shown in all formats. It's not like the scenes were cut out for 35mm presentations, and it's not that there is some technical reason that requires this.

Has this actually been said, or are you simply inferring that this is what is going to happen because only some of the scenes are true 70mm? It would be a first.

(also, plenty of old westerns shot in large formats and presented in 35mm)

that being said, I have the same options as you do re: local IMAX, but I don't think I can go to either because they are both 3D only from what I can tell.

Also, max resolution isn't that important of a factor for superior quality...especially if this comes with some horrible 60hz or whatever and everything looks fake and plastic. (But I'm pretty sure this wasn't shot at gross frame rates and I haven't seen it advertised as being presented in such ways, so at least there is that)

Dark Knight's 70 mm shots were heavily cropped for the smaller theatres. Maybe that's what he means.

BTW, they've released the press images for IMAX for Star Wars:

Converted IMAX:

True 70 mm IMAX:

 

[Aikouka]

Keep in mind that the Space & Rocket Center has a dome IMAX theater. I tried doing a bit of research to see what people thought of them, and the opinions seemed to be fairly split. Although, one benefit is that the Space & Rocket Center has fairly cheap tickets at only $10. If you compare this to the other IMAX theater in Huntsville, which is actually a digital IMAX (i.e. "LieMAX"), those are $16.90 + $1.50 fee.

 

[zinfamous]

Dark Knight's 70 mm shots were heavily cropped for the smaller theatres. Maybe that's what he means.

I sort of assumed that's what he meant, but saying "those scenes won't be in the x presentation" is a very different thing.

Misspoken or not, it spreads misinformation and would be useful to clear it up.

Also, the Faux-Max presentations of TDKR weren't all that horribly-cropped. They did fill the fake IMAX screen, but the rest of the shots--some 80%? of the film--were presented in the proper aspect ratio, so you did see unmasked bars...eh, iirc, that is.

and hey: what's with the vingetting from the the shitty lens on that 70mm shot? D:

😛

 

[jagec]

aye, that's the problem. I avoid IMAX for this because it only exists in shit 3D as far as I can tell (around here, anyway)

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

I'm always surprised that the theaters haven't started showing EVERYTHING in 3D, but offering either "2D" or "3D" glasses to people, depending on whether they wanted to pay extra. The frames could be different colors or something to make it easy to keep track of. But it would immediately double the number of showings, and they could still charge extra for 3D if they wanted.

 

[zinfamous]

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

I'm always surprised that the theaters haven't started showing EVERYTHING in 3D, but offering either "2D" or "3D" glasses to people, depending on whether they wanted to pay extra. The frames could be different colors or something to make it easy to keep track of. But it would immediately double the number of showings, and they could still charge extra for 3D if they wanted.

The goal is to not support this 3D nonsense so that it vanishes entirely. Not feed the trough and pay a premium to support shittier quality.

😀

But that's actually interesting and I didn't realize you could do this. Does it actually work?

 

[stlc8tr]

70mm is ~9.3K resolution, so it is the highest resolution you will be able to see the new movie in. There are also several scenes shot specifically in 70mm so you wont see these shots in any other theater. If this is important to you, then you know what to do.

Where did you see the news that there are several scenes in IMAX?

The last I heard, only one scene was shot in IMAX.

http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-episode-vii-imax/

 

[Exterous]

Keep in mind that the Space & Rocket Center has a dome IMAX theater. I tried doing a bit of research to see what people thought of them, and the opinions seemed to be fairly split. Although, one benefit is that the Space & Rocket Center has fairly cheap tickets at only $10. If you compare this to the other IMAX theater in Huntsville, which is actually a digital IMAX (i.e. "LieMAX"), those are $16.90 + $1.50 fee.

Hmmm...I hadn't realized that. Opinions on seeing a movie in a domed Imax are a bit concerning

 

[SunnyD]

Keep in mind that the Space & Rocket Center has a dome IMAX theater. I tried doing a bit of research to see what people thought of them, and the opinions seemed to be fairly split. Although, one benefit is that the Space & Rocket Center has fairly cheap tickets at only $10. If you compare this to the other IMAX theater in Huntsville, which is actually a digital IMAX (i.e. "LieMAX"), those are $16.90 + $1.50 fee.

It may be a dome, but it can also show native (flat) IMAX film (on a flat screen at the dome), otherwise they wouldn't be showing the 70mm film at the Space & Rocket Center.

 

[K1052]

I personally plan on seeing it in IMAX w/ laser which uses 2x 4K projectors, which provides an 8K resolution, so slightly lower res than the 70mm IMAX, however the contrast ratio on IMAX w/ laser is far superior to 70mm IMAX.

Looking into the resolution of the IMAX laser systems it I noticed the IMAX brass referring to a "perceived resolution" greater than 4K. Turns out they're using a 4K file and offsetting for 3D. Their solution is interesting but obviously they would have an issue with claiming that it is an 8K file they're using.

We have a device we call an image enhancer that is like a super computer that's equivalent to 100 desk-top computers and it takes our content, whether it was captured in 2K or 4K we always convert to 4K, and then this device manipulates the data going to the left and right projector for 2D and 3D. So the two images are slightly superimposed at an angle to one another to enhance the resolution and we end up getting a higher perceived resolution on screen.

https://www.avforums.com/article/imax-laser-a-closer-look-at-the-technology.12010

 

[K1052]

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

I'm always surprised that the theaters haven't started showing EVERYTHING in 3D, but offering either "2D" or "3D" glasses to people, depending on whether they wanted to pay extra. The frames could be different colors or something to make it easy to keep track of. But it would immediately double the number of showings, and they could still charge extra for 3D if they wanted.

No thank you please. The polarizing filters suck the brightness out of the presentation. I get mind numbingly angry when I see places projecting 2D content through their 3D polarizers.

 

[Exterous]

It may be a dome, but it can also show native (flat) IMAX film (on a flat screen at the dome), otherwise they wouldn't be showing the 70mm film at the Space & Rocket Center.

Have you been there before and, if so, how was the experience?

 

[LevelSea]

I watched Gravity at the Space and Rocket Center. It was projected on the dome, not a flat screen.

 

[CZroe]

I watched Gravity at the Space and Rocket Center. It was projected on the dome, not a flat screen.

I was about to say this. I went there around 1990 and recall that it was a dome.

Edit: I see this has been discussed to death on page one but this was the only visible reply when Tapatalk started me on the second page.

 

[CZroe]

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

I'm always surprised that the theaters haven't started showing EVERYTHING in 3D, but offering either "2D" or "3D" glasses to people, depending on whether they wanted to pay extra. The frames could be different colors or something to make it easy to keep track of. But it would immediately double the number of showings, and they could still charge extra for 3D if they wanted.

Uhh, though they ask you to return your 3D glasses, you paid extra for them and don't have to return then. If they offered cheaper 2D showings during 3D showings and tried to distinguish them with different glasses many people would simply "recycle" their own 3D glasses and not pay extra to get 3D.

 

[Aikouka]

It may be a dome, but it can also show native (flat) IMAX film (on a flat screen at the dome), otherwise they wouldn't be showing the 70mm film at the Space & Rocket Center.

Hm, I'm not sure what's the case, but I'll probably end up seeing it there anyway. I don't think I've seen anyone ever mention a dome theater having a separate flat screen though.

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

Since I wear prescription lenses, I went the passive 3D route at home. LG came out with a fairly ignored technology called Dual Play. (I believe Black Ops II used it on the console release.) The reason why I mention this is the entire point of Dual Play is that it just takes a split-screen (top-bottom) game, turns on 3D (top-bottom), and player 1 gets the left eye and player 2 gets the right eye. They sold glasses that work with it too, and there are third party ones like these. Long story short, you can just use those glasses instead. Frankly, I'd rather spend $12 for 4 pairs than $40 for 1 pair. 😛

These should work just fine in the theater, because I use my clip-on 3D glasses when I see 3D movies. So, that means the polarization is the same. Also, making your own glasses would be difficult unless you get pre-cut polarization filters. If you just buy the film, you'll need any device that can emit at the right polarization, or else you won't know how to rotate the film prior to cutting it.

 

[jlee]

Buy this or make your own. Sure, it sucks that you have to pay extra, but if those are your only options, who cares?

I'm always surprised that the theaters haven't started showing EVERYTHING in 3D, but offering either "2D" or "3D" glasses to people, depending on whether they wanted to pay extra. The frames could be different colors or something to make it easy to keep track of. But it would immediately double the number of showings, and they could still charge extra for 3D if they wanted.

Interesting. I don't have normal stereoscopic vision...curious if those would make 3d movies watchable (albeit in 2D).