Rama Krishna Sangem
Christopher Nolan’s latest movie, “Oppenheimer” is released in India on July 21, Friday. It’s in IMAX format and best suited to watch on IMAX screen. In Mumbai, PVR’s Icon Phoenix Palladium IMAX theater, this movie ticket is sold at Rs 2,450, so far the most expensive one, officially, not in black. This high price triggers buzz about both Nolan’s movie as well as IMAX format screens.
IMAX is known to have more expensive tickets than regular 2D cinemas, what about the IMAX experience drives such high demand among moviegoers? Of course, audience will not pay high ticket rates for every movie. They prefer to watch only select films that are made in the format. Though most people are watching movies on OTT at home, some films are watched on big screens only. Nolan’s movies are among them. Oppenheimer is an IMAX 2D film.
This film made on a budget of 100 million US dollars, is about a scientist who made nuclear bomb during World War-2. the circumstances that led to making of the bomb and the internal and external conflicts that rage in the scientist is the center of the movie. Already advance booking trends suggest Oppenheimer will gross 55 million US dollars this weekend, by July 23. Now let’s take a look at IMAX format and its specialties.
What is IMAX format?
IMAX is a motion picture film format. It consists of a system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and film theatres. Developed in Canada in the 1970s, IMAX seeks to give the viewer an immersive movie-watching experience with its large screens. IMAX theatre screens have a tall aspect ratio of 1.43:1 or 1.9:1. The screens can be 18 by 24 metres in size, with the largest screen in Leonberg, Germany, measuring 38.8 m by 21 m. The IMAX in Leonberg is also the largest IMAX theatre in the world, measuring 814.8 sq m in size
Unlike traditional theatres, in IMAX, the films run horizontally, making the image width greater than the width of the film stock. This is used exclusively in purpose-built theatres with dome screens. This format was conceived and is owned by IMAX Corporation.
The IMAX film standard uses 70 mm film run and is run through the projector horizontally. In normal film projection theatres, a 35 mm or a 70 mm film is run vertically to project on the screen. In the IMAX format, the images that can be produced on the screen can be 8.3 times as large as the regular 35 mm film or 3.4 times as large as the regular 70 mm film.
This technique allows the screen to produce images 8.3 times as large as the 35 mm film format and about 3.4 times as large as the 70 mm film run that is run vertically through the projector. The former is the setup of regular movie theatres.
IMAX theatres create a more immersive viewing experience with the massive screen, which delivers up to 40 per cent more imagery due to its high-resolution 3D technology. The IMAX theatre itself is also designed with steep seating to allow for an unobstructed view of the screen from any place. The theatres also run two projectors simultaneously to balance the warmth and sharpness of the film.
Hope we all enjoy this English film also dubbed into Hindi. Will write a review of the film after watching later this week!
(Inputs curated from different media sources)
