Amph At The Movies (film discussion thread)

It's the most popular and most accessible premium format. So, it tends to get a lot of special rereleases since it offers something new in terms of the scale of the image. Few movies aren't enhanced by the format, even if they don't have as many money shots as a modern MCU film or something. For instance, the greatest thing about watching Raiders in IMAX a few years ago was being able to notice small details in the image I either never noticed before (two scenes involving flies) or background details that you tend to gloss over when the image is smaller (Nazi / monkey hint).

I'm not seeing it until tomorrow night, but ET is very powerful on the big screen- you have all those redwood forest scenes, the epic bikes sequences (on ground and in the air), the scenes of ET's powers, the isolation tubes, ET's ship at the end, etc. But you're also going to get the emotional impact enhanced ten fold by the details in the performances on that size of a screen, etc. Just because they set most scenes in a room doesn't mean they can't be beautiful, either.

Not to mention Williams' score coming from that sound system.

Spoiler

 

I don't think so- AOTC was the first to get IMAX formatting, AFAIK. We would have heard about the slight edits that would have been needed to fit ESB or ROTJ to the IMAX time limit had they been released in the format prior to, or around, then. ROTS might have had an IMAX release (if it was after the IMAX time limit had been eliminated, as there is no IMAX edit of ROTS like with AOTC). All the newer films do. TPM may have gotten an IMAX release for the 3D rerelease 10 years ago.

But, yeah, not the OT I believe. If the 3D versions of the OT had been released as originally intended, we probably would have gotten IMAX releases then. Hard to say if they would have reworked the image digitally to format it for that screen or just projected it letterboxed like some films do in IMAX.

 

Well, there was work done in this case, presumably, to remaster, reformat/reframe the film for IMAX screens. It's not like they just took a screener from local classic film revivals or a blu-ray and slapped it on a bigger screen.

Alternatively, if you already have AMC A-List, you're not really paying anything extra to see ET if you've already seen/will see a different movie or two this month.

 

There weren't many true IMAXs to begin with due to the building height requirements. And while there is a massive difference between true IMAX screens and liemax screens, you are still getting a larger screen than standard cinemas, as well as all of the projection and audio benefits (ie: 3D films in IMAX 3D, being the best of the 3D formats, though that doesn't apply to E.T. obviously).

You can end up paying nearly the same price for Dolby Cinema and the screen is not only much smaller but is paired with The. Absolute. Worst. recliner designs. However, you're getting the super-extra-sharp projection quality, rumble seat audio and otherwise comfortable seats.



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But then, full sized IMAX screens tend to charge an additional premium due to their size benefit and tendency to be located in major city centers (ie: Lincoln Center in NYC or Union Square in SF). Generally $23-28 vs $18-22. So even a liemax isn't always going to be a 1-for-1 price point comparison.

 

As a follow-on to the E.T. discussion- one neat moment that benefited from IMAX (and, in this specific case, liemax particular) was this specific shot:



Because, at liemax scale, those kids are basically life-sized- which makes the ship also life-size. Very surreal to experience that!

(the compositing also looked better in this version than in that screenshot)