Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Will Prometheus show in IMAX?

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Posted by Matthew Prince (Member # 6739) on 02-03-2012, 11:39 AM:

After seeing the trailer, pictures and poster, the sheer scale of Prometheus almost demands an IMAX presentation. It would be better than the 3D version.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 02-03-2012, 12:59 PM:

There is technically room on the schedule for it, two weeks after the opening of Men in Black 3, but as of this moment, there has nothing to indicate it might.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-03-2012, 03:24 PM:

Ridley Scott has approved 3-D for PROMETHEUS and the movie is now being shot with a new and much improved system than the one James Cameron used for AVATAR. I saw AVATAR in 3-D IMAX Digital and 2-D on Blue-Ray and although it was good in 2-D, seeing the movie in 3-D was the way to go. The same was true with Martin Scorsese's HUGO. By the way both, AVATAR & HUGO were nominated for Best Picture as well as many other technical awards. In my opinion, if James Cameron did not yell out loud "I am King of the World" when he won the Best Picture Oscar for TITANIC, he probably could have won again for AVATAR as best director and best picture.

Because PROMETHEUS will be a major release, I predict it will be presented in IMAX and the 3-D should be fantastic in that format.

-Claude

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-03-2012, 04:12 PM:

I have to agree, Claude -- IMAX's dual projection in terms of brightness (which is a huge stumbling block for 3D IMHO) really puts them heads above the other 3D systems and, at least here in the IMAX theatre I've been watching all the 3D IMAX releases. Single projector systems, unless they use seriously reduced screen sizes (in which case you might as well get yourself a 3DTV and stay home), are inadaquate once you've seen the improved brightness of the dual system, you'll never again be satisfied with RealD (underlit) 3D.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-03-2012, 04:51 PM:

Frank,

Regal's first RealD 3-D system at the Dole Cannery here in Honolulu had a very dark picture when I saw their first 3-D movie "JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH and the 3-D image is still dark when I saw a recent film in that auditorium. All of the other three RealD sytems in that complex has been projecting acceptable 3-D images. Regal's other complex at Pearl Highlands in Pearl City near where I live has great RealD systems. The largest auditorium (#12) with a big screen is my favorite and the 3-D image is fantastic with a image that is just slightly dimmer than regular 2-D featrures.

Consolidated here in Hawaii has Dolby 3-D and Technicolor 3-D. The Titan X C house at the Ward with a Expand 3-D system was a big joke! I saw TOY STORY 3 and the picture was soooooooo dark, I was tempted to walk out and demand a refund. I never did but swore not to see another movie in that house again. The Dobly 3-D I saw at another house at the Ward was also dark but not as terrible as the movie I saw in the Titan XC house. The Dolby 3-D system at the Kapolei 16 was not as bad as the Ward when I used to go there a lot during the time when my late mother was at a nursing home nearby about two years ago.

-Claude

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 02-06-2012, 04:35 AM:

I would love for this to be in IMAX but haven't seen it mentioned on any of the lists we've been sent.
It's released in the UK only one week after MIB3 which in turn is only 2 weeks after Dark Shadows both of which are confirmed IMAX projects.
It may fit as a digital release but for us who still show real IMAX on 1570 don't hold your breath!

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 02-06-2012, 08:07 PM:

I don't forsee it being released to us Film based IMAX's. As of right now MIB3 isn't a locked in film for us either, at least in the states its not as far as I know.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 03-08-2012, 11:21 AM:

Well, we got a Prometheus trailer yesterday to play in front of our John Carter IMAX 3D print, so I guess it's official now.

Posted by Paul Gordon (Member # 3320) on 03-08-2012, 02:08 PM:

15/70? GOOD!

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 03-08-2012, 07:47 PM:

Link

‘Prometheus’ To Get IMAX 3D Release

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 8, 2012 @ 2:02pm PST

Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi terror territory he explored with 1979′s Alien and 1982′s Blade Runner, gets the full IMAX treatment, including 3D and the company’s proprietary IMAX DMR (digital remastering).

The 20th Century Fox feature will be released day-and-date with the standard theatrical opening. Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron star in the film, about a team of explorers who travel to the darkest corners of the universe in search of a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, only to find themselves in a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

It was written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 03-09-2012, 12:11 AM:

quote:
‘Prometheus’ To Get IMAX 3D Release

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 8, 2012 @ 2:02pm PST

Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s return to sci-fi terror territory he explored with 1979′s Alien and 1982′s Blade Runner, gets the full IMAX treatment, including 3D and the company’s proprietary IMAX DMR (digital remastering).

The 20th Century Fox feature will be released day-and-date with the standard theatrical opening. Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green and Charlize Theron star in the film, about a team of explorers who travel to the darkest corners of the universe in search of a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, only to find themselves in a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

It was written by Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof.

and as Sam Graham would say ... Wackiness ensues.

Posted by Victor Liorentas (Member # 5272) on 03-09-2012, 09:49 AM:

If this was shot digitally then the Imax DMR treatment hides what?
Pixels?
I thought it was to reduce visible film grain when blown up to 15/70.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-22-2012, 02:13 AM:

quote: Victor Liorentas
If this was shot digitally then the Imax DMR treatment hides what?
Pixels?
I thought it was to reduce visible film grain when blown up to 15/70.

DMR is just a fancy acronym for whatever fancy blackbox technology is being applied by IMAX to get features converted to IMAX. It's whatever IMAX wants it to be.
Not that much different than the whole IMAX thing itself nowadays [Wink]

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 03-24-2012, 01:55 PM:

We will be playing a 15/70 trailer for Prometheus on "Wrath of the Titans" so it looks to be playing 15/70 as well as Digital. I still haven't heard about MIB3 yet.

Here is an interesting article about DMR and IMAX prints and the "Black box" stuff there doing.

DMR how its done

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 03-24-2012, 05:38 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
Here is an interesting article about DMR and IMAX prints and the "Black box" stuff there doing.

DMR how its done

It's an interresting read, thanks! It confirms most my suspicions [Smile]

. But, it doesn't cover DMR for digitally acquired content and it also contains stuff I don't want to believe:

quote:
Source film generally arrives at IMAX pre-digitized in either 2K (2048×1080) or 4K (4096×2160) resolution.

I guess 4K is still just good enough for a decent blowup, but scaling 2K to REAL IMAX proportions? That simply must look terrible blurry. Also, the article claims that there is up to 6K of information in a standard 35mm Kodak print, so why would anybody even try to use the 2K source if the movie was shot on 35mm?

Of course, for LIEMAX, a 2K master seems more than sufficient [Wink]

Posted by Allan Young (Member # 6332) on 03-25-2012, 05:22 AM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
We will be playing a 15/70 trailer for Prometheus on "Wrath of the Titans" so it looks to be playing 15/70 as well as Digital.

It's no guarantee. There was a 15/70 trailer for Thor (attached to Tron Legacy I think) and it was only released in digital.

Posted by Antti Nayha (Member # 4980) on 03-25-2012, 06:06 AM:

quote: Marcel Birgelen
I guess 4K is still just good enough for a decent blowup, but scaling 2K to REAL IMAX proportions? That simply must look terrible blurry.

I think this is indeed how most IMAX DMR blowups have been made so far. And don’t forget that they have even used material that was originated on lowly 1920x1080 digital…

Also, like several other sources, the Gizmodo article got the resolution of the current LieMAX system wrong – it’s actually just 2K.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 03-28-2012, 08:40 PM:

quote: Allan Young
It's no guarantee. There was a 15/70 trailer for Thor (attached to Tron Legacy I think) and it was only released in digital.

Hence why I said, it looks to be. 15/70 trailers for Thor did not play in the States from what I can remember. I know we didn't play one. We did have a 15/70 trailer for Cars 2 but never got it. There is always that chance sure, but when they take the time to strike the 15/70 trailer its a lot more likely that we will be seeing 15/70 prints of the feature.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-26-2012, 11:24 AM:

So far this is the best question on IMAX conversions I've ever heard asked (from the article):

quote:
one question of Hollywood: You've got hundreds of millions for talent and marketing, but you don't have enough cash to buy a truckload of 70mm film and deal with tricky cameras? I find that hard to believe.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 04-26-2012, 02:42 PM:

This part of the article explains the process of DMR to allow mainstream features to be played on IMAX. Well, most mainstream features use 2k DI, some 4k. So there is simply no way to submit a higher res source to the DMR process. They can't redo the whole scanning, postproduction and mastering process in a higher resolution just for IMAX.

However, more and more features intended for IMAX releases will be produced in 4k now.

- Carsten

Posted by Allan Young (Member # 6332) on 04-27-2012, 04:24 AM:

quote: Carsten Kurz
This part of the article explains the process of DMR to allow mainstream features to be played on IMAX. Well, most mainstream features use 2k DI, some 4k. So there is simply no way to submit a higher res source to the DMR process. They can't redo the whole scanning, postproduction and mastering process in a higher resolution just for IMAX.

I'm having a hard time believing that 15/70 prints can be produced from a 2K source, no matter how good the DMR process is. For a Liemax only release, maybe, but surely IMAX insist on a 4K source before agreeing to produce film prints.

Prometheus is having 15/70 prints struck by the way.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 06-07-2012, 06:51 PM:

Some early reviews for PROMETIOUS are already praising the 3-D as being up there with AVATAR and HUGO for it's excellent use of the format. This proves that in the right hands, 3-D can enhance a film and make it a diserable way to see it. I am planning to see it this weekend in digital IMAX 3-D.

-Claude

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 06-08-2012, 07:28 AM:

I've now seen it in IMAX 1570 theatre and a National Amusements REal D theatre.

In IMAX the edges are croped slightly to fill more screen height.
The 3D is shot very well and even works in Real D !

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 06-12-2012, 12:35 AM:

technically the movie looks and sounds great, but the film itself is an utter mess. The DVD/Bluray is expected to restore some 15-20 minutes back into the storyline as well as include a bevy of other deleted scenes.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 06-12-2012, 03:03 AM:

I believe this is by far the best looking print I've shown in my 2 1/2 years, thats just over 40 films or so I've shown. On print that I think gives it a run for its money was Avatar, only due to the fact that the colors looked amazing.

I have to respectfully disagree with you Jonathan on the film being a mess, but that discussion isn't for here nor really the review thread either. I suppose if we really wannted to discuss and disect the film we could always open another thread.