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Author Topic: Star Wars 15/70 release Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-28-2015 08:36 AM                     ^ well I was quite impressed when I saw the laser system at the Udvar Hazy Smithsonian Airbus IMAX screen present the Dubai skyscraper scene from 'Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol' full screen 4:3 demo'ed; excellent black levels and sharpness.  |  IP: Logged Bill Brandenstein Master Film Handler Posts: 413 From: Santa Clarita, CA Registered: Jul 2013 posted 10-28-2015 11:11 AM                     Aron, this has been discussed elsewhere and I'll try to answer your question accurately from memory: yes. The native 16:9 shape of the laser system is stretched in anamorphic optical fashion to the full 4x3 size. So Universal City Imax should use the full picture whenever the source equips it to. It's also been said elsewhere that the Hollywood Chinese Imax is not a true 4x3 and may involve cropping of 4x3 images, but I've not seen it to confirm. Just assure me the hot-spotting 3D screen will be replaced. The old Los Angeles Mitsubishi Imax rocked back in the 80s and 90s with a great sound system and perfect screen. I miss those days.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-28-2015 07:44 PM                     The IMAX company will need some kind of effective plan to deal with installing "IMAX with Laser" into both kinds of IMAX branded theaters, true IMAX houses that ran 15/70mm film and all the ones that only showed 2K digital. I don't think IMAX will be able to get away with sticking their laser-based system in only a small percentage of their screens, even though it appears this is exactly what they're trying to do. They need to upgrade the sound systems in ALL of their theaters so they're at least running the 12 channel version. Right now not many people know about laser projection. More will find out about it as more systems are installed. Santikos is going to open a new multiplex in San Antonio featuring 4K 6P laser projection on all screens. Dolby Cinema is using laser projection and applying their own Dolby Vision thing to it. I think the home consumer electronics angle will pressure IMAX to put the laser system in a lot more of its theaters, rather than just a few of the IMAX houses that used to run film. By the time this decade is finished 4K UHDTV sets will be standard; you probably won't be able to buy a new 2K TV set by 2020. TV sets that support REC 2020, Dolby Vision, HDR, etc. will also be common and affordable before the end of the decade.  |  IP: Logged Aron Toplitsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Gardena, CA, USA Registered: May 2012 posted 10-29-2015 01:52 AM                     Jonathan I wonder how the laser version vs the 15/70 version would look compared side by side? As someone I think posted in this thread, that will never happen. I would love to see it though! "It's also been said elsewhere that the Hollywood Chinese Imax is not a true 4x3 and may involve cropping of 4x3 images, but I've not seen it to confirm." I'm glad you mentioned that Bill. I've been to the Chinese IMAX and it doesn't appear to be a 4x3 screen. If anything it resembles Liemax. I have been wondering how they were able to pull off a 15/70 presentation of Interstellar? As I've mentioned before on this site, I'm also not very impressed with the low frequencies in that theater. I've seen two films there and both were lacking. Now I know they are two different mixes, but I saw Godzilla in their Atmos auditorium and it was a pulse pounding amazing experience! On the other hand, the IMAX presentation was no where near as good in the low end department. Another film I noticed was Furious 7 which was laser projected by the way. It looked great, but again, the sound was lacking for me. People swear they've had the ultimate audio experience there. Maybe it's just me? Anyhow, for those reasons I will not be seeing Star Wars there. If Universal can get Laser Projection in time, then that will be my choice.  |  IP: Logged Mike Schulz Expert Film Handler Posts: 122 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: May 2007 posted 10-30-2015 05:36 PM                     The El Capitan will be Dolby Vision HDR. The information I have heard as of now is that they have only made a 2D HDR version so far (thank god) so let's hope that doesn't change to 3D before the release. I'm kind of bummed that Universal and the Chinese have already yanked out their Interstellar 15/70 projectors. I'd love to see that version as well but from the list already posted here, it looks like nobody in LA will be playing 15/70. I've been unimpressed with IMAX Laser so far. I've seen Furious 7 and Jurassic World 3D both at the Chinese and Dolby Vision beats it in every possible way. I might be a little biased though  |  IP: Logged Allan Young Expert Film Handler Posts: 125 From: EGHAM, Surrey UK Registered: Jun 2011 posted 10-31-2015 09:10 AM                     The Science Museum in London has been added to the list of 15/70 locations.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-31-2015 12:51 PM                     The OMNI Dome theater in at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History has been added to the 15/70mm list. I won't have to drive clear to Branson to see it in 15/70mm. While I think this is a good development, I do have some concerns about unintended image cropping due to the dome screen shape. I may still have to check it out. I haven't visited this theater in a few years. I'm really hoping this new Star Wars movie is actually good. If it ends up being crap it's not going to be worth seeing in different presentation formats for the fun of comparison. Meanwhile: IMAX hasn't added much to its laser installations list. Only 7 systems in North America (none in Texas or OK) and another 7 across the rest of the globe. That's pretty slow progress.  |  IP: Logged Bill Brandenstein Master Film Handler Posts: 413 From: Santa Clarita, CA Registered: Jul 2013 posted 11-03-2015 01:23 PM                     AMC Universal City's Imax screen is closed right now for laser projection installation, reopening on Thursday night with "Spectre." Too bad there's no word on a sound upgrade (that I've found). Aron, you've confirmed the short-topped Chinese Imax screen, meaning they put in 15/70 for Interstellar to be run only for that one title, and would've had to crop a little from the bottom and a chunk of the top to make it fit that screen. Sorry to hear the bass is bad there, which I suspect is due to the cavernous size and acoustics of that space. Universal's bass is good but not excellent.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-03-2015 03:45 PM                     I thought the 12-channel sound system was supposed to be standard for any "IMAX with Laser" theater. IMAX really needs to upgrade the sound systems in ALL of its theaters, not just the handful of laser-based screens. The 5.0 systems in the other 99% of IMAX-branded houses is not so hot. I can understand IMAX proceeding very slowly with installing the new laser-based system, partly because it costs a fortune. Upgrading a 5.0 sound system to 12-channel is not nearly as complicated and nowhere near as costly. If every freaking Cinemark "XD" screen out there can play Auro 11.1 then IMAX really ought to be able to pull off 12 channel surround in all its theaters especially when they're charging more money for it than XD.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Schulz Master Film Handler Posts: 387 From: Los Angeles, CA USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 11-03-2015 06:18 PM                        quote: Jonathan I wonder how the laser version vs the 15/70 version would look compared side by side? As someone I think posted in this thread, that will never happen. I would love to see it though! Although I have not seen them projected side by side, I was at a demo at the TCL Chinese at which IMAX screened (using the laser projectors) footage that was originally 15/70, scanned at 8K for cleanup and color correction, and then down-rezzed to 4K for DCP mastering. The result was stunning. I never thought I'd be able to say this, but it looked as good as the best film projection I've ever seen.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 11-03-2015 10:03 PM                     I agree Daniel - I was very impressed.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-09-2015 03:46 PM                    For clarification... 15/70 film projection or some smaller gauge film projection?  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Althaus Master Film Handler Posts: 435 From: Bedford, TX Registered: Dec 2008 posted 11-09-2015 10:10 PM                     The Omni Theater (dome) at the Ft Worth Museum of Natural History has been added to the 15/70 list  |  IP: Logged Aron Toplitsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Gardena, CA, USA Registered: May 2012 posted 11-19-2015 10:59 PM                     Jonathan and Daniel, I'm glad you guys were impressed by the laser presentations you saw. AMC Universal City Walk is now posting "laser is here" on their website. I would have preferred a 2D 15/70 presentation, but I've decided to check out the 3D laser version, and it's not like I have a choice. As far as I know, there are no 15/70 showings in Los Angeles. Still I'm a little excited about seeing it in 3D. Word is IMAX 3D laser looks much better than standard 3D IMAX digital. Just curious, does anyone know if the 15/70 showings are in 2D or 3D?  |  IP: Logged Daniel Schulz Master Film Handler Posts: 387 From: Los Angeles, CA USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 11-19-2015 11:39 PM                        quote: Mark J. Marshall For clarification... 15/70 film projection or some smaller gauge film projection? The IMAX laser projected material that was derived from 15/70 negatives looked as good as actual 15/70 projection. IMO of course. I am told that Christopher Nolan disagrees with my assessment. quote: Aron Toplitsky As far as I know, there are no 15/70 showings in Los Angeles. Still I'm a little excited about seeing it in 3D. Word is IMAX 3D laser looks much better than standard 3D IMAX digital. Just curious, does anyone know if the 15/70 showings are in 2D or 3D? IMAX 3D laser is night-and-day better than standard 3D IMAX digital. The 15/70 showings are 2D. I think there was a timing issue with making prints fast enough to support 3D 15/70 (doubles the number of prints the lab needs to produce).  |  IP: Logged

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