strike two: the IMAX screen wont be up for ‘The Day Earth Stood Still’ I really wonder what the hold up is, because any sort of confirmation on when or if Tysons will be outfitted to IMAX seems to be in debate.
As for the idea and actual implementation of digital systems in and around the Washington DC area – it’s STILL all 35mm. Hollywood wants to think that digital is the future, but seeing how few chains and studios are not converting, seems to be a major contradiction. AMC and Regal at one point were talking about mass conversions of their theatres nationally, but that appears to have come to a complete standstill – going digital is not all about the “money”.
I’ve seen some pretty bad DLP screenings. Nearly the entire ‘Golden Compass’ in DLP had a very distinct and annoying flicker. ‘30 Days for Night’ shut time several times and the audio dropped out at the beginning, resulting in silence for nearly ten minutes. It eventually had to be stopped and restarted from the beginning. Audio dropout during ‘Nightmare Before Christmas 3D’
question: how are these problems occuring, I thought these ‘films’ were on harddrive discs – is it the fault of how the disc was mastered? Or is the system somehow reading it wrong?
getting back to a comment I made nearly a year ago, and since Regal has since merged with Consolidated Theatres, I would have thought Regal would have at least added a digital screen to the Silver Spring cineplex for the release of ‘Bolt’. AMC is also slagging as well, no new DLP/3D units in their DC area theatres.
I don’t remember the theatre to be outfitted for surround sound, the screening of ‘Terra’ at this year’s Virginia Film Festival was impressive both visually and aurally.
strange, I checked AMC’s website today and it doesn’t look like the IMAX screen will open for Madgascar 2 – it’s simply denoted as “TBD” I would assume it will be up and running for ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’
I’m all for Muvico to go all 4K digital, but AMC is also going the Sony route as well – a few of their select theatre/screens that have Sony’s system showed ‘Hancock’ in true 4K. The next such feature is supposed to be ‘Quantum of Solace’ – the idea and actual conversion to digital seems more of promises than actual installation.
is the scheduled November 7th conversion/opening of the IMAX screen still happening? As of the 10th of October, nothing was happening. It must not take that long to convert a theatre to IMAX specs. I would have thought they were aiming for the ‘Madagascar 2’ opening but according to AMC website, only the DLP screening is posted
a side comment regard MovieTix86’s comment on ‘Nightmare’ of the two presentations I saw last year at AMC Tyson’s and Regal Gallery Place, the latter was by far the best presentation I’ve seen of the 3D version – the imagery was bright, resulting in details I’ve never noted before, and the 5.1 sound was enveloping and more aggressive than Tyson’s presentation, which oddly at one point an audio dropout occured.
a brand new 70mm print of ‘West Side Story’ was recently shown at the Castro in San Francisco, I’m hoping the AFT Silver can show it here in the DC area for an East Coast presentation. A new stage production of ‘West Side Story’ is having it’s pre-Broadway engagement at the National Theatre beginning in mid-December.
what ever projector they used at Hoffman to project the pre-film advertisements, looked terrible, it was all orange. However the IMAX ads for the future films, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and ‘Watchmen’ projected in actual IMAX looked and sounded great.
I did see ‘Kung Fu Panda’ three days earlier before ‘Eagle Eye’ premiered and I thought that was great in IMAX – the obvious plus was the sound, the thumps and thwacks were appropriately loud and bassy. I sat in the hot seat – row three (from the center aisle), seat 12. ‘Madgascar 2’ will great in IMAX because it’s not a scope film, as I mentioned before 1.85 films are fantastic on the IMAX screen, because their aren’t the black bars above and below the image.
I saw Eagle Eye over at Hoffman and there was an IMAX representative with a questionaire about IMAX and Eagle Eye – I filled out most of it, my only complaint was the fact that the auditoriums being converted seem to be on the small side. It’s unfortunate considering some the largest 2K DLP systems are over Cinema De Lux (the one’s immediately left and right of the center concession stand). I haven’t heard any new news which auditorium over at Tyson’s is getting the conversion – I really really hope it’s the promised #3.
when I saw ‘Ghost Town’ which had moved to Screen 4 – I thought the picture seemed a tad soft – the 5.1 soundmix wasn’t all that showy to begin with so, I didn’t think much of it. I on the other hand enjoyed the film more than you. How big is screen 1? Does it seem worth it, that is, to convert to IMAX? The IMAX banner as of last Friday was gone.
the new news regarding the IMAX auditorium conversion is a tad off, if not possibly great, the IMAX ‘coming soon’ banner is up, yet the proposed auditorium has not been finalized. It’s between #1 or 3, as much as I raved about it in my first April 22 post, it better be #3, I actually sent snail mail to corporate, requesting my opinion the IMAX screen be #3.
talking about a mall converting it’s theatre to form new stores, I remember seeing many movies at Pentagon Mall here in the DC area. It had by far the best audio setup, it’s Sony Digital Dynamic Sound system rivalled and superceded, in my opinion, the Uptown theater’s.
on a different subject, I was over at Tyson’s last Friday and the IMAX ‘Coming soon’ banner is up, yet when I asked which auditorium was getting the conversion, the manager stated it was either going to be #1 or 3, I expressed my opinion that it better be #3 – that audiorium’s screen is immense and most ideal.
you’re forgetting though 70mm is traditionally 2.20 Films can get as wide as 2.76 Cinemascope films were 2.55 Seeing a re-issue of ‘Ben Hur’ (2.76) at the Uptown theatre here in DC was amazing, watching the curtain unveil the screen, wider, wider, wider… whah!
I have to say Muvico’s website supremely sucks. I thought I had heard Muvico was looking to open a theatre somewhere closer or actually in DC proper. I’d love a theatre similiar to Rosemont’s where all the theatres have 4K Sony digital projection.
Question though: are Hollywood movies that are transferred to IMAX presentations actually remixed to take advantage of the 12-channel configurement? I remember reading somewhere online that the ‘Transformers’ IMAX soundmix was very different from the standard 6-channel mix.
The IMAX systems are 4K Texas Instrument DLP, not Sony LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon). All current DLP’s are 2K, Sony’s systemes are 4K. As I mentioned previousily, ‘Hancock’ was projected in 4K in select theatres that have Sony units, November’s release of ‘Quantum of Solace’ will be the next 4K release. I thought initially IMAX were going to be 6K at least (with the rumored system being two Sony 4K systems outputting 8k resolution), it was surprising to hear from the IMAX rep at the opening of the Hoffman IMAX auditorium it was only 4K. According to an article in American Cinematographer 35mm can actually be 6K in resolution, but due to tweaking of the image to mass produced 35mm print the resolution is greatly reduced.
I think I was spoiled by seeing ‘Corteo’ live, but this production featured alot of more dancing and less acrobatics – I would have liked more of the former. From the perspective of imagery and sound, the hidef presentation was outstanding, add dramatic camera angles and tight editing – this was topnotch entertainment. [As for the upcoming ‘Rent’ – I sooooo can’t wait!]
strike two: the IMAX screen wont be up for ‘The Day Earth Stood Still’ I really wonder what the hold up is, because any sort of confirmation on when or if Tysons will be outfitted to IMAX seems to be in debate.
As for the idea and actual implementation of digital systems in and around the Washington DC area – it’s STILL all 35mm. Hollywood wants to think that digital is the future, but seeing how few chains and studios are not converting, seems to be a major contradiction. AMC and Regal at one point were talking about mass conversions of their theatres nationally, but that appears to have come to a complete standstill – going digital is not all about the “money”.
I’ve seen some pretty bad DLP screenings. Nearly the entire ‘Golden Compass’ in DLP had a very distinct and annoying flicker. ‘30 Days for Night’ shut time several times and the audio dropped out at the beginning, resulting in silence for nearly ten minutes. It eventually had to be stopped and restarted from the beginning. Audio dropout during ‘Nightmare Before Christmas 3D’
question: how are these problems occuring, I thought these ‘films’ were on harddrive discs – is it the fault of how the disc was mastered? Or is the system somehow reading it wrong?
getting back to a comment I made nearly a year ago, and since Regal has since merged with Consolidated Theatres, I would have thought Regal would have at least added a digital screen to the Silver Spring cineplex for the release of ‘Bolt’. AMC is also slagging as well, no new DLP/3D units in their DC area theatres.
I don’t remember the theatre to be outfitted for surround sound, the screening of ‘Terra’ at this year’s Virginia Film Festival was impressive both visually and aurally.
strange, I checked AMC’s website today and it doesn’t look like the IMAX screen will open for Madgascar 2 – it’s simply denoted as “TBD” I would assume it will be up and running for ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’
I’m all for Muvico to go all 4K digital, but AMC is also going the Sony route as well – a few of their select theatre/screens that have Sony’s system showed ‘Hancock’ in true 4K. The next such feature is supposed to be ‘Quantum of Solace’ – the idea and actual conversion to digital seems more of promises than actual installation.
is the scheduled November 7th conversion/opening of the IMAX screen still happening? As of the 10th of October, nothing was happening. It must not take that long to convert a theatre to IMAX specs. I would have thought they were aiming for the ‘Madagascar 2’ opening but according to AMC website, only the DLP screening is posted
a side comment regard MovieTix86’s comment on ‘Nightmare’ of the two presentations I saw last year at AMC Tyson’s and Regal Gallery Place, the latter was by far the best presentation I’ve seen of the 3D version – the imagery was bright, resulting in details I’ve never noted before, and the 5.1 sound was enveloping and more aggressive than Tyson’s presentation, which oddly at one point an audio dropout occured.
a brand new 70mm print of ‘West Side Story’ was recently shown at the Castro in San Francisco, I’m hoping the AFT Silver can show it here in the DC area for an East Coast presentation. A new stage production of ‘West Side Story’ is having it’s pre-Broadway engagement at the National Theatre beginning in mid-December.
what ever projector they used at Hoffman to project the pre-film advertisements, looked terrible, it was all orange. However the IMAX ads for the future films, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ and ‘Watchmen’ projected in actual IMAX looked and sounded great.
I did see ‘Kung Fu Panda’ three days earlier before ‘Eagle Eye’ premiered and I thought that was great in IMAX – the obvious plus was the sound, the thumps and thwacks were appropriately loud and bassy. I sat in the hot seat – row three (from the center aisle), seat 12. ‘Madgascar 2’ will great in IMAX because it’s not a scope film, as I mentioned before 1.85 films are fantastic on the IMAX screen, because their aren’t the black bars above and below the image.
I saw Eagle Eye over at Hoffman and there was an IMAX representative with a questionaire about IMAX and Eagle Eye – I filled out most of it, my only complaint was the fact that the auditoriums being converted seem to be on the small side. It’s unfortunate considering some the largest 2K DLP systems are over Cinema De Lux (the one’s immediately left and right of the center concession stand). I haven’t heard any new news which auditorium over at Tyson’s is getting the conversion – I really really hope it’s the promised #3.
did anyone see the Sleeping Beauty presentation? I would assume it was in the new wider 2.55:1 aspect ratio that the dvd/bluray has
when I saw ‘Ghost Town’ which had moved to Screen 4 – I thought the picture seemed a tad soft – the 5.1 soundmix wasn’t all that showy to begin with so, I didn’t think much of it. I on the other hand enjoyed the film more than you. How big is screen 1? Does it seem worth it, that is, to convert to IMAX? The IMAX banner as of last Friday was gone.
the new news regarding the IMAX auditorium conversion is a tad off, if not possibly great, the IMAX ‘coming soon’ banner is up, yet the proposed auditorium has not been finalized. It’s between #1 or 3, as much as I raved about it in my first April 22 post, it better be #3, I actually sent snail mail to corporate, requesting my opinion the IMAX screen be #3.
talking about a mall converting it’s theatre to form new stores, I remember seeing many movies at Pentagon Mall here in the DC area. It had by far the best audio setup, it’s Sony Digital Dynamic Sound system rivalled and superceded, in my opinion, the Uptown theater’s.
on a different subject, I was over at Tyson’s last Friday and the IMAX ‘Coming soon’ banner is up, yet when I asked which auditorium was getting the conversion, the manager stated it was either going to be #1 or 3, I expressed my opinion that it better be #3 – that audiorium’s screen is immense and most ideal.
“My only complaint is that the parking situation is fairly bad.”
bad as in not enough, or bad: unsafe.
there’s no parking garages nearby?
that – in my opinion is a major deterence.
you’re forgetting though 70mm is traditionally 2.20 Films can get as wide as 2.76 Cinemascope films were 2.55 Seeing a re-issue of ‘Ben Hur’ (2.76) at the Uptown theatre here in DC was amazing, watching the curtain unveil the screen, wider, wider, wider… whah!
I have to say Muvico’s website supremely sucks. I thought I had heard Muvico was looking to open a theatre somewhere closer or actually in DC proper. I’d love a theatre similiar to Rosemont’s where all the theatres have 4K Sony digital projection.
Question though: are Hollywood movies that are transferred to IMAX presentations actually remixed to take advantage of the 12-channel configurement? I remember reading somewhere online that the ‘Transformers’ IMAX soundmix was very different from the standard 6-channel mix.
The IMAX systems are 4K Texas Instrument DLP, not Sony LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon). All current DLP’s are 2K, Sony’s systemes are 4K. As I mentioned previousily, ‘Hancock’ was projected in 4K in select theatres that have Sony units, November’s release of ‘Quantum of Solace’ will be the next 4K release. I thought initially IMAX were going to be 6K at least (with the rumored system being two Sony 4K systems outputting 8k resolution), it was surprising to hear from the IMAX rep at the opening of the Hoffman IMAX auditorium it was only 4K. According to an article in American Cinematographer 35mm can actually be 6K in resolution, but due to tweaking of the image to mass produced 35mm print the resolution is greatly reduced.
out of curiosity were the restored prints of Godfather I and II, 35mm or DLP?
I think I was spoiled by seeing ‘Corteo’ live, but this production featured alot of more dancing and less acrobatics – I would have liked more of the former. From the perspective of imagery and sound, the hidef presentation was outstanding, add dramatic camera angles and tight editing – this was topnotch entertainment. [As for the upcoming ‘Rent’ – I sooooo can’t wait!]
well at least there is a September IMAX release, we would have had to have waited til November anyway for Madasgascar 2.
The Hoffman is strangely not listing anything on it’s IMAX screen – what’s up with that??