AN IDIOTS’ GUIDE TO BATMAN V SUPERMAN IN IMAX

Since I’ve been talking about this a lot on Twitter, probably best to sum everything up about Batman v Superman and IMAX and 70mm….I’m guessing you are all confused, right? So gonna try my best to explain everything about the best way to see the film.

1. SOURCE FORMAT MATTERS

Snyder shot BvS on a combination of 35mm film and 65mm IMAX film with a big IMAX camera like one seen in the image above (via) at aspect ratios of 2.39:1 (the usual widescreen) and 1.43:1 (square-ish like your old TV) respectively, with the IMAX cameras basically, as you know, delivering insane quality - highest quality capture of any non-digital film camera in the world - for the biggest screens in the world. Remember all the stuff with the black bars on the Blu-rays for The Dark Knight&TDKRises, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Interstellar going away and the film looking better? That’s IMAX.

(here’s an IMAX shot from the film, as it’d appear on the Blu-ray release. Via)

The theatrical cut of the film will have 25 minutes, shot with IMAX cameras, presented in the IMAX 1.43:1 aspect ratio on traditional IMAX screens showing the film in 70mm IMAX film or digital laser IMAX projection. Which brings us on to:



2. What is ’traditional IMAX’?

To cut a long story short, there was a time when most IMAX theatres were like this:

(via)

A theatre like this is ’traditional IMAX’.

(some also referred to that as ‘real IMAX’)

They projected films in 70mm IMAX film (won’t go into too much detail apart from that it’s one of if not the highest quality film projection format), and when you had scenes filmed with IMAX cameras, these scenes would fill that whole screen, top to bottom.

Then came two issues.

Firstly, to cut costs and expand quickly, IMAX created a cheaper and lower quality digital projection system and a concept for smaller IMAX theatres which are basically upgrades of existing screens. Which is still better than regular theatres especially in the sound department, but at the time quite a step down to what people associated with IMAX. For the sake of simplicity, I will call this ‘IMAX Digital’:

(via)

As you can also see, the screens are of a wider aspect ratio of 1.89:1, closer to the 16:9 aspect ratio of TVs. So while when you watch a film with IMAX footage, the IMAX scenes do expand to fill the screen, you lose some of the full intended image. Not to mention that it’s a smaller auditorium and just not as woah as traditional IMAX.

And secondly, more films released in IMAX started to become available in digital format only, which is obvious given it’s expensive to make 70mm prints of each film that’s released in IMAX, with the vast majority not being filmed with IMAX cameras. So the traditional IMAX theatres had to install these digital projectors from the smaller theatres side by side with the big 70mm ones.

But of course the studios are getting a bit more stingy for economic reasons and of course not all traditional IMAX theatres with a 70mm projector will get a 70mm print of Batman v Superman. So they will have to screen it from that projector on a massive screen which not only means that as someone described, it looks like “watching a DVD on a 60-inch LCD”, but also the IMAX scenes won’t fill the whole screen anymore as the projectors are incapable or projecting a taller image:

(on the left - what it should look like on a traditional IMAX screen, on the right - how it’d look like when projected from one of those “regular” digital projectors on a ‘traditional IMAX’ screen. Edit by yours truly.)

Thankfully IMAX are fixing that by introducing their laser 4K system, which can project digitally while filling the full height of traditional IMAX screens. It’s basically a digital replacement for the 70mm system for the traditional IMAX screens - you still, the average viewer anyway, get the same quality benefits as 70mm IMAX film. Apart from one thing that pertains to BvS which I will touch upon a bit later. In the meantime, here’s an image summing all the above up for you:

(a handy comparison image by yours truly which I hope makes sense)

(official comparison image via Yahoo/IMAX)

But…there’s another twist with the laser system.

3. LASER IMAX MAY NOT NECSSARILY MEAN ‘TRADITIONAL IMAX’

While the majority of the few theatres in the world with IMAX Laser projection are ‘traditional IMAX’ theatres, a few, especially outside the US, aren’t. There’s of course the case of originally smaller ‘digital IMAX’ theatres which got upgraded to laser projection, but also there’s this:

(via and via) - the TCL Chinese Theatre in LA, and the Empire Leicester Square in London.

These are pretty damn big IMAX screens, using laser IMAX technology. But - look at their screens compared to the BFI IMAX (the top image).

While these theatres are - PERFECT - for IMAX releases that weren’t shot in IMAX (Deadpool, SPECTRE, Hunger Games, everything out this year in IMAX apart from BvS and maybe Civil War), this isn’t really cutting it for films with IMAX footage. Why? You don’t have the same height - you lose out on the full image.

I’m expecting more and more of such examples to pop up in time so….do beware. In the future, seems examples like these are the closest we will get to the IMAX of the old with new theatres….

4. WHERE AND HOW DOES 3D COME INTO PLAY?

Most IMAX releases are 3D. But most IMAX releases of films shot with IMAX cameras aren’t, in fact apart from BvS the only other recent example (apart from TF4, that was shot with prototype digital IMAX cameras with the wider aspect ratio of the digital IMAX theatres) of a 3D release of an IMAX-shot film was Star Trek Into Darkness, which got 3D 70mm IMAX film prints.

IMAX’s normal policy with 3D films is for all shows for first few weeks of release to be in 3D, no 2D shows at all. Luckily, it seems in the US, they won’t be forcing that as some of the theatres showing BvS in digital IMAX formats (that is - IMAX digital and Laser IMAX) will have both 2D and 3D shows, like this one. It’s completely down to your theatre though so get in touch!

As for 70mm IMAX film - all prints are 2D, there will be no 3D prints. So this leads to the conclusion:

5. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO SEE BvS?

70MM IMAX FILM in 2D at a TRADITIONAL IMAX THEATRE .



at a IMAX WITH LASER (in 2D) at a TRADITIONAL IMAX THEATRE.



The choice between film and digital will likely come down to what theatres are nearby and whether you prefer 2D or 3D.

Now, where do you watch it? Check out the official list from IMAX here. (FYI - IMAX Sydney and Melbourne and Event Queen St. are meant to be on there but are missing.) And watch out for the smaller ‘digital IMAX’ theatres or examples with the less tall aspect ratio for BvS that have laser projection -

TCL Chinese Theatres IMAX – Hollywood



VOX Cinemas & IMAX - UAE



Cinestar Berlin & IMAX - Germany



Filmpalast AM ZKM IMAX - Germany



Empire Leicester Square IMAX – United Kingdom



Cineworld Sheffield & IMAX – United Kingdom



And lastly:



CALL THE THEATRE TO CONFIRM FORMAT BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO BUYING TICKETS THERE.

If the box office person doesn’t know anything, just ask for the projection team or manager.

And if you don’t have a ‘traditional IMAX’ near you, don’t worry, because digital IMAX is still a better experience in most cases than regular theatres.

Let me know here in the ask box or comments, or on Twitter (@antovolk) if you still have any questions. I hope that covers everything, and helps you make an informed choice as to where to see Batman v Superman on opening night so when the lights dim and the WB logo accompanied by probably Their War Here kicks in, you are all like:

(via somewhere on Giphy/some Mockingjay - Part 2 interview with a YouTuber.)

