quote:

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> Dear Exhibitor,
>
> Regarding engagements of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, please be advised that keys
will be active and content can be ingested in advance of the 7PM Thursday 12/17
"preview" showings. We encourage you to schedule technical checks in advance of
these shows at all playdate theatres to assure a flawless presentation to the
public.
>
> However -- in light of the special nature of this film and concerns about early
leaks regarding its content -- we ask that only one or two people (one
projectionist and/or one manager) be permitted to view and supervise the technical
checks. Wider attendance at technical checks (including theatre staff and others)
is strictly forbidden and will be considered a breach of the terms listed on the
rider to our license agreement for this film, which states "Absolutely no
exhibition of this title (public or private) may happen prior to 7PM on December
17, 2015." We don't want the storyline or surprises in the film to leak. We
really want fans to be able to discover the film on their own terms as this is
critical for the film's overall success.
>
> Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Ken Caldwell
> Senior Vice President/General Sales Manager
> Theatrical Sales and Distribution, North America
> Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

---

 

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Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 12-10-2015, 03:06 PM:
 
I received this letter today.

I fear this may be a sign that the movie isn't that good.

The last time I received a similar letter like this was for "Jurassic Park: The Lost World".

We know how that went.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-10-2015, 03:34 PM:
 
I thought of that too -- if the movie has "I am your father"-type surprises, it's going to be all over the internet by midnight on the 17th. One has to hope that the movie is also such a fun watch that it'll sustain some legs. (I hope so, because we had to book it for four #$%&ing weeks. First time ever.
 

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Posted by Matt Russell (Member # 8989) on 12-10-2015, 07:08 PM:
 
Just got this email as well, we're hoping to do a quality overview (on the screen and sound system), which we haven't done since Tomorrowland, so the sooner the better. My manager also told us that the auditorium will be closed from the outside while whoever is inspecting the film (we don't know who yet) is viewing it. Also went as far as no devices with a camera allowed in the auditorium during the screening. Avengers 2 was no where near this complex.
 

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Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 12-10-2015, 07:39 PM:
 
Here's George Lucas's quote about Episode VII.

quote:

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“I think the fans are going to love it. It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for.”

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quote: Andrew Thomas

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My Disney keys always unlock at 12:01am on Wednesday (so late Tuesday/early Wednesday) giving plenty of time to run a tech check.

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Usually true, but my keys for The Good Dinosaur didn't unlock until sometime around 12:00 PM on the day before it came out. I'm hoping that Star Wars doesn't have the same issue and that was just a one time problem.
 

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Posted by Andrew Thomas (Member # 7000) on 12-10-2015, 11:59 PM:
 
Hmmm, this was what I had.

--- GOODDINOSAUR_FTR-1-2D_S_EN-EN-CCAP_US_51-HI-VI_2K_DI_20151110_DTB_IOP_OV ---
--- Valid from 2015-11-23T00:01:00 to 2015-12-11T03:58:00 ---

Wonder why yours was different...
 

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Posted by Matt Russell (Member # 8989) on 12-11-2015, 12:31 AM:
 
We were having server issues earlier on that week, but I don't think that's what caused it to come a day late. Could of just been a problem when Disney was sending out the codes so some theaters (like mine) received it later than others. But we got it just in time so that's what matters I guess.
 

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Posted by Rick Cohen (Member # 6140) on 12-11-2015, 03:24 AM:
 
Disney is just trying to protect their movie from spoilers before the premiere on Thursday. No more, no less.

Their rules on the exhibitor screenings were just as strict. They have kept a very tight lid on plot and character details up until now, they simply do not want to ruin the experience for the paying audience.

One reason I personally want to watch it before the Thursday 7PM premiere, is that I want to enjoy the movie free of spoilers. That is virtually impossible in this day and age, unless you live in a social media vacuum.

Personally, I have never, not even once, experienced a faulty DCP once it has been ingested on the server. So the argument some people make about desperately needing to QC every DCP 48 hours in advance of an opening is flimsy at best. All you really need is a framing chart and the aspect ratio, and neither of those require a KDM.

When I screen a movie early, I do it solely for the special thrill of seeing a new movie before the general public does, and to give my staff members a small fringe benefit for working in a movie theatre. It's not like they get health care benefits or paid vacation time, so that's the least I can do when a prestige movie is opening.

Under the circumstances, Disney's request is supremely reasonable. It's not as if people aren't already camping out in lines ten days in advance in anticipation of the movie, or were using drones to invade the air space of production sets and gathering espionage on character and plot details.

No matter what, there are going to be spoilers all over the internet and social media probably during the middle of the 7pm screenings. Sad, but true. All Disney is attempting to accomplish is to help people going into the 12/17 7PM screenings, which will be a vast majority of the core fan base, to have a spoiler-free experience, as it should be.
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-11-2015, 03:35 AM:
 
My premiere showings are at 7pm, so that cancels this note all out.

Oh, to share a tidbit with all:

When, I start the 7pm showing this coming Thursday night, I have started ALL seven episodes of Star Wars ... beginning with the original 1977 release, then the 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002, and the last one in 2005.

Going from carbon arc, changeover days, to platter and xenon,
then to digital.

thx -Monte
 

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Posted by Anders Nordentoft-Madsen (Member # 3334) on 12-11-2015, 04:36 AM:
 
Well, the movie opens on december 16. here in denmark, so so much for not wanting to spoil it before the 17th......
 

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Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 12-11-2015, 07:16 AM:
 

quote: Monte L Fullmer

---

When, I start the 7pm showing this coming Thursday night, I have started ALL seven episodes of Star Wars ... beginning with the original 1977 release, then the 1980, 1983, 1999, 2002, and the last one in 2005.

Going from carbon arc, changeover days, to platter and xenon,
then to digital.

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quote: Rick Cohen

---

Personally, I have never, not even once, experienced a faulty DCP once it has been ingested on the server.

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quote: Rick Cohen

---

Personally, I have never, not even once, experienced a faulty DCP once it has been ingested on the server

---

quote: Rick Cohen

---

Personally, I have never, not even once, experienced a faulty DCP once it has been ingested on the server. So the argument some people make about desperately needing to QC every DCP 48 hours in advance of an opening is flimsy at best.

---

The best example of why QC screenings is important is Puss In Boots. This movie had an issue where the 7.1 rear channel and descriptive audio tracks were put on the wrong channel. Theatres that had did not check their shows before hand opened the movie Friday afternoon and immediately had people coming out to complain that they had the narration coming out of the back channel.

The issue is just that there is no reason why a theatre should not be able to actually check the entire presentation of each movie prior to opening for the public. This gives us the opportunity to verify automation cues, check for issues with speakers, check the picture's brightness, and more. And it should be allowed early enough so that in the rare case a problem is found there is ample time to get replacement content, or fix equipment problems.

Another example is the special aspect ratios required for Jurassic World and Tomorrowland this past summer. We should have actually been given the ability to play the content - or at least a large test real as much as a week before the opening.
 

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Posted by Joris Springer (Member # 4175) on 12-11-2015, 02:29 PM:
 
I was actually surprised that we got the keys that unlock at Tuesday the 15th 0:01 am . I was worried that it would unlock 30 minutes before the first show on Wednesday but this is plenty of enough time to check the quality and to locate the credits offset which they forgot to mention.
 

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Posted by Michael Putlack (Member # 6523) on 12-12-2015, 12:34 AM:
 
Our keys open 24 hours before our first screening. Plenty of time to run a few tests.

Good on Disney for realizing it might be worth a few people watching the film early in exchange for getting the presentation right.
 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 12-14-2015, 09:18 AM:
 
I'm seeing Star Wars in 2D on a screen that I'm told has a 4k projector. (Harkins Northfield Cine Capri)

What resolution will they be projecting? 2K or 4K?
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-14-2015, 10:23 AM:
 
Star Wars is a 2K file.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-14-2015, 10:37 AM:
 
^ not only image but I'm curious what the audio is on the DCP's (of the six films) considering the blurays are all 6.1; and Ep. 2 and 3 (and I think 1) was native DTS-ES, Dolby EX 6.1 in the first place.
 

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Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 12-14-2015, 12:13 PM:
 
All six of the marathon DCPs are 5.1 audio. The unfortunate thing is that they were all created last month and are the 2011 Special Edition version and not the ones that FOX had made 5 or so years ago that were the 1997 version. They at least all retain the FOX logo and fanfare at the beginning of each film so 6/7 isn't bad for all of you who were complaining about the new one not having them.
 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 12-14-2015, 12:48 PM:
 
Thanks Adam.

Bummer.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 12-14-2015, 01:17 PM:
 
I always watch the movie myself before showing it to the public ever since I got the digital stuff -- the only one that I couldn't do that for was the second-last Hunger Games movie since it showed up so late all I could do was play-and-pray.

Not too long after I first got my digital setup, I had a movie that played in the WRONG ORDER like the reels had been mixed up. I can't remember the title right now but I phoned Technicolor or Deluxe and they emailed me a little file of some sort to ingest and that solved the problem - the movie then played in the correct order. It was so soon after I got the digital setup that I didn't really know what I was doing at the time but I was sure glad that I had tried to watch the movie in advance.

If you don't watch the entire movie by yourself from start to finish before playing it for the public, you're taking a very foolish chance. Even if you have to stay up extra late at night to watch it it's well worth doing -- I've had a few occasions when I was sitting in my auditorium until about 4am to watch tomorrow's movie.
 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 12-14-2015, 01:24 PM:
 
Mike, you had a typo in your post.

quote: Mike Schulz

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The unfortunate thing is that they were all created last month and are the 2011 Special Edition version and not the

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quote: Geoff Jones

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original versions that captured the imaginations of millions of moviegoers and won awards for things like editing, effects, sound, and music.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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Or are they making tonight's audience sign NDAs and turn in their cell phones?

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This is exactly what happened. Besides the crazy amount of police/security surrounding the area to begin with (this thing was as big/bigger than the Oscars) they had loads of security in the auditoriums during the screening of the movie watching for people who didn't check their phones at the entry.
 

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Posted by Andrew Thomas (Member # 7000) on 12-15-2015, 11:21 PM:
 
Well, they sure did make me wait a long time. Got the keys, that unlock in 40 minutes, 5 minutes ago.
 

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Posted by Andrew Thomas (Member # 7000) on 12-16-2015, 04:11 AM:
 
Not a big deal, but it was interesting to me that the vast majority of scenes in the trailers are from the first 1/3rd of the film. Only other big movie I can think of in recent years to do that was Interstellar last year, which also had most of its trailers cut with first act material.
 

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Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 12-16-2015, 04:50 PM:
 
Andrew, that's a trailer done right. I'm so tired of trailers spoiling the plot of a movie, so maybe this one still has some surprises left.
 

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Posted by Matt Russell (Member # 8989) on 12-16-2015, 09:49 PM:
 
Speaking of trailers, which trailers do you guys have playing on you're drives? We put on:
-Batman v. Superman (WB)
-Warcraft (Universal)
-Independence Day Resurgence (Fox)
-Angry Birds (Sony)
-Star Trek Beyond (Paramount)
-Jungle Book (Disney)
-Captain America: Civil War (Disney)
In total, 16 minutes worth of trailers.
 

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Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 12-17-2015, 12:43 PM:
 
Grand Lake normal runs just three trailers and no commercials or preshow.
 

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Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 12-17-2015, 01:17 PM:
 
Independence Day
Star Trek
Captain American
Batman Vs Superman

We're sticking to our general policy of about 10 minutes in trailers. I think it winds up being just short of 9 minutes, but close enough.
 

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Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 12-17-2015, 02:15 PM:
 
Captain America
Joy
Big Short
 

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Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-18-2015, 03:51 PM:
 
I make sure that I have some Disney's on to screen since the trailer nazis likes to keep an close eye on their features.

Finding Dory
Zootopia
Capt Am
Warcraft
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-18-2015, 04:13 PM:
 
out of curiosity what are the DCP specs: 2K or 4K?
 

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Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 12-18-2015, 06:39 PM:
 

quote: Adam Martin

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Star Wars is a 2K file.

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-18-2015, 08:05 PM:
 
^
 

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Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 12-18-2015, 08:21 PM:
 
Currently no such thing as a 4K 3D file. Has anyone seen a 4K 2D of a 3D release?
 

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Posted by Shawn M. Martin (Member # 6762) on 12-18-2015, 10:39 PM:
 
^"The Green Hornet", "Priest" (ran it), "The Smurfs 2" (ran it) and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2".
 

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Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 12-19-2015, 05:33 PM:
 
Seriously? The biggest film in half a decade and they release it in 2k? CROCK OF SHIT
 

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Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 12-19-2015, 05:48 PM:
 
if the movie hadn't been released in 3D there might have been a chance for it to have been 4K, but like Universal's boneheaded decision to also downgrade the film shot (35mm/65mm) 'Jurassic World' to 2K on DCP - really seems like a step backward for an industry that is trying to advance to 4K application and release.
 

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Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 12-20-2015, 08:03 PM:
 
Who cares if it's 3D? 2D and 3D are already different files. Zero reason besides retardation for the 2D to not be 4K.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-20-2015, 08:57 PM:
 
I assume it's because 3-D uses the same "base" files as 2-D therefore if 2K is required for 3-D, they would make the movie in 2K so as not to have to make a separate set of files just for 3D, even though 3-D is a smaller and smaller piece of the pie.
 

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Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 12-20-2015, 09:28 PM:
 
3D does not share a 2D base file, not on the DCP level.

The reason why there usually is no 2D-4k when there is 3D is simply that they would have to do the whole postproduction, fx, master, etc. in 4k/3D, which simply costs money. They are not willing to spend this if the main release format is 3D/2k.
May change at some point, since more and more systems could play 4k/3D, if there was a DCP standard for it.

- Carsten
 

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Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 12-20-2015, 09:55 PM:
 

quote: Buck Wilson

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Zero reason besides retardation for the 2D to not be 4K.

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quote: Stephan Shelley

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Currently no such thing as a 4K 3D file. Has anyone seen a 4K 2D of a 3D release?

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quote: Carsten Kurz

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The reason why there usually is no 2D-4k when there is 3D is simply that they would have to do the whole postproduction, fx, master, etc. in 4k/3D, which simply costs money. They are not willing to spend this if the main release format is 3D/2k.

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quote: Martin McCaffery

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Zero reason other than not a single person in the world will refuse to see it because it is not 4k

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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I'll bet if you ran a 2K movie on an average sized theater screen for a bunch of 4K purists, and told them it was 4K, about 90% of them would believe it and at least 5% of the rest would be sort of convinced.

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Bingo.

And to go way back (and keeping with this being a Star Wars film thread) I take you to the opening day of "The Empire Strikes Back."

Yours truly was one of about a thousand waiting in line since the day before (and dressed in a Darth Vader Helmet and cape) to see the film presented in 70mm at the Orange Cinedome.

About an hour or so before showtime a truck comes screeching up to the theatre and delivers some film..in 35mm.

We get into the auditorium, the show starts and the trailers run, in 35mm. So far not unusual...

The feature starts, and my trained ears and eyes tell me something's not right.....and it was confirmed at the first reel change. (This is a platter house BTW.) The first splice that passed thru revealed that we were watching a 35mm print.

As the film ended I heard the vast majority of the crowd say things along the lines of "Man I'm glad we saw that in 70...it looked great!!"

The point is (if you haven't figured it out already) even in the glory days of film, most people wouldn't recognize a presentation in a superior format even if hit with the reel of film. So I am not surprised that in this lovely era of big screen that fact hasn't changed.

Oh, and why did we not see the film in 70mm back then? Because the 70mm print was destroyed in the press screening at midnight by the popcorn girl "projectionist" who managed to literally scrape most of the mag track off of the print.
 

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Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 12-21-2015, 03:17 PM:
 
Ouch, Tony. Great story.

Unfortunately, the whole Liemax issue is proof of this point. So when I take my family to see Star Wars at AMC Universal Citywalk, should I complain about how fuzzy and big the pixels are? Because there it's pretty obvious unless you're in the back row. And, as I mentioned, they have 4K (laser) capability.
 

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Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 12-21-2015, 05:35 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

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I'll bet if you ran a 2K movie on an average sized theater screen for a bunch of 4K purists, and told them it was 4K, about 90% of them would believe it and at least 5% of the rest would be sort of convinced.

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quote: Bill Brandenstein

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So are the local laser Imax shows (Chinese, Universal CityWalk) and Dolby Vision (AMC Burbank, El Capitan, Cinerama Dome) merely running 2K 3D? Seems like 4K should exist on this. Even more odd would be a 4K 2D option for those venues, but not in 3D.

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quote: Bill Brandenstein

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Sony 4K projectors but the brightness is too low

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