The Matrix Reloaded released in IMAX

[Chris D]

This may make people happy--the Matrix Reloaded will be released in select IMAX theaters in June. Should be good on such a large screen, and I need to go see it again anyway to get deeper into the subplots.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[David Meek]

Hmmmm, a 60 foot tall Trinity? Cool. :banana:




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[Chris D]

I just went to see this at the Pacific Science Museum IMAX Theater near the space needle in Seattle.

INCREDIBLE.

Definitely the way you should watch the Matrix. (and arguably every other movie) I tried to convince my wife to let me sell the house so we could purchase and make a down payment on living in an IMAX theater, but she didn't like that for some reason.

Two criticisms:
1. I had to pay $19.00 for two people. It was worth it for this movie and this one time, but that's pretty outrageous.
2. Due to the huge size, I did pick up on some deficiencies in the film, like some CGI being more apparent, especially in the "burly brawl" scene. This has been commented on by other people, though, in standard theaters as well. I'm pretty sure I saw a few faces that hadn't even been masked over as Agent Smith, but were still the body double.

You know, I was thinking... because of the size, you have to sit fairly far back from the screen. My theater won't have quite the same relative size of screen, but you know what? It will be fairly close to the same proportions, since I'll be a lot closer to the screen. Especially when you factor in that the movie was shown in widescreen format, of course, not using the top and bottom of the 4:3 IMAX screen. (I still don't understand why IMAX chose that size. Since the picture is rotated sideways on the film, they could have made the picture as wide as they wanted to)

The guy at the theater said that they'll be showing the Matrix Revolutions at the IMAX on November 5th, so I probably won't even bother going to see that in a standard theater.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Brandon B]

The big theaters out here are $10 a pop already. $9.50 is a bargain.

But the screen sizes and sound system are worth the extra $ and long drive for stuff like this. 60 foot wide screen. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Curious what they cut out to get the movie down to the 120 minute IMAX, er, max reel time. Did you notice?

On a fun note, I get to sit in a little on the installation of 2 IMAX systems for one of our attractions down in Florida. Pretty cool. They use a big miller welding unit as the power supply for the lamp. Bzzzzzt.

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

What was the aspect ratio ? 2:35 ? 2:21 ? 1:85 ? Was the rest of the IMAX 4:3 screen masked off ? Just curious. We have an Imax near where I live but so far they have not shown anything other than 4:3 material.




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[Chris D]

I did not notice any difference in the movie from a normal theater in regards to the aspect ratio and the movie length. The movie seemed to be 2 hours 15 minutes plus 15 minute end credits or so. The movie contect appeared to be exactly the same, no extra scenes and nothing cut short. (well, there wast the scene where Monica Belluci takes off all her clothes and... ... just kidding) Actually, I've never heard of a IMAX length restriction. Any reason?

The aspect ratio seemed to be the same as normal theaters, whatever the ratio is for this particular movie, I would guess either 2.35 or 2.21. The screen was not masked at all... although that would have been interesting to see with such a large size! I did not even notice the unused screen after the first few seconds.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[George Bellefontaine]

Thanks for the reply, Chris.




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[Brandon B]

The IMAX film setup only holds (or last I knew it did) 120 minutes of film. They edited Apollo 13 and SW II AOTC to this length, so I assumed they would for Matrix. Possibly, they've built new film handling systems to handle longer features since they are trying to make this a new aspect of their business. I'll check with the guy from IMAX we are working with and see if he knows.

BB

[Brandon B]

An IMAX projector is an immense machine, weighing in at over two tons. The huge platter that spins the oversized film has an upper limit of film length. Most films that play in IMAX theaters are documentaries that don't clock in much over an hour in length. Feature films have to be cut to 120 minutes since that is the current maximum the platter can sustain. For number-minded trivia fans, the Episode II IMAX print is 58 inches in diameter and weighs 390 pounds! "It's the limit now," explains Bonnick. "We are actively developing a 150-minute solution that would be employed as an upgrade to the theaters in the future."

From Starwars.com, looks like they were working on a 150 minute version.

That's likely your answer. I'll confirm with the IMAX engineer, we have a review with him in September.

BB

[Chris D]

Very interesting to me. The movie definitely started at 9:45 PM, and let out about 12:15 AM after the credits and the end Revolutions trailer. There was a short IMAX introduction before the actual movie started, but certainly not 15-30 minutes long. I'm pretty positive the movie itself was over 2 hours long.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Brandon B]

Met with guys from IMAX this morning for a work project. He confirmed that they do now have platter systems that will handle 150 minute and even longer movies.

Cool. A reason to start leaving the house again. My impression that they are pushing into this area to grow their business. Death to the mall cineplexes.

BB

[David Meek]

That's kewl B! A 60 foot tall UN-CUT Trinity! :drool:




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