📽️ Is your IMAX experience real or is it just an overpriced movie show ?🍿🎬

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In this issue, you will find

• Top OTT Shows & Movies

• Let’s look at what the real IMAX experience is like vs what you get at IMAX Cinema near you

• Weekly Box Office figures.

• Weekly Puzzle

• News Buzz

Top watched OTT Shows this week

Top releases this week

Is your IMAX experience real or is it just an overpriced movie show?

"Watch Oppenheimer in IMAX for that magnificent larger-than-life cinematic experience." That's what we have been hearing for the last four days. The shows are houseful in almost all the 1800 (IMAX) theatres across the world. The tickets are priced at 4-5 times higher, and yet people are flocking to these theatres like never before. So what’s the buzz all about? What's the real IMAX experience? Even after paying the high price, are you getting the IMAX experience? Let’s investigate.

Before we delve into the main topic, I'd like to give a big shout-out to 'Oppenheimer,' a fantastic film by one of the most commercially successful directors of our time - Christopher Nolan. Interestingly, this movie has once again brought IMAX into the limelight.

But today, this article is not about the movie. It's about the experience of watching such a cinema, and it's about the hype around IMAX, which people call ‘The Most Immersive Movie Experience’.

History of IMAX

The company was founded in 1967 when three filmmakers—Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, and Robert Kerr—incorporated IMAX Corporation with the idea to showcase content in a very large format. The first ever IMAX movie was called ‘Tiger Child’ and was screened at an Expo in 1970 in Osaka, Japan. It’s a Canadian company with headquarters in Toronto. Initially, the company made nature documentaries and convinced museums to showcase them. It was not until 2008/09 that the blockbuster movies like The ‘the Dark Night’ & ‘Avatar’ made the whole IMAX cinematic experience mainstream.

What is the IMAX movie watching experience?

The IMAX experience is truly centred around the grandeur of projection size and the immersive sound quality offered in a theatre. To achieve this extraordinary cinematic experience, IMAX goes above and beyond by manufacturing high-resolution lenses, film codecs, projectors, and state-of-the-art movie theatre sound equipment.

An IMAX theatre is characterised by its massive single screen, typically measuring an impressive 50 feet by 75 feet or upwards. These movies are recorded using special heavy-weighing IMAX cameras and advanced sound equipment, ensuring every detail and nuance of the film comes to life with unparalleled clarity and depth.

One of the key elements that sets IMAX apart is the use of large 65 mm film rolls, in contrast to the conventional 35 mm rolls utilised in regular movies. This higher film gauge allows for a significantly larger image to be projected, delivering a truly captivating and immersive visual experience for the audience.

Moreover, IMAX takes filmmaking to the next level by shooting movies in 18k resolution, pushing the boundaries of image quality and precision. This high resolution demands exceptional equipment, and IMAX cameras are equipped with some of the largest light sensors in the world. While this ensures incredible image capture, it also makes these cameras quite bulky and challenging to handle for filmmakers.

An essential aspect to consider is that simply stretching a regular movie to fit the enormous IMAX screen won't transform it into a genuine IMAX movie due to its inherently lower resolution. For an authentic IMAX experience, the combination of 18k resolution and a 75x50 ft screen size is required to achieve that truly grand cinematic immersion.

IMAX caters to both digital and physical film projectors, along with advanced sound systems, to create an immersive movie-watching experience for the audience. While technically all IMAX theatres are constructed by IMAX, the crucial question is whether all these theatres deliver the authentic IMAX experience or if it's more of a branding strategy at play here.

Do all IMAX Theatres deliver true IMAX experience?

1. Typically an IMAX movie should be projected on screen with an aspect ratio of 1.43:1. For a real IMAX experience, the minimum screen size had to be at least 75 feet x 50 feet. If you are watching IMAX movies that are not in this aspect ratio or screen size, you will lose out on the IMAX visual experience. Typically the movies shown in these theatres are in the 50 feet range

2. IMAX Digital does not project on 18k resolution. IMAX theatres that show digital versions of an IMAX movie typically project them in 2k or 4k solutions. That's much below the 18k resolution that the movies are shot in. This impacts the overall viewing experience. Typically a true blue IMAX experience is delivered at theatres that project actual film projection

3. IMAX Theatres feature paradigm speakers for louder and clearer audio. However, volume adjustments are strictly controlled, and IMAX staff is notified of any changes attendees request. The IMAX sound system boasts higher power, cleaner amplification, and a superior octave lower sub-bass response than Dolby.

The authenticity of the IMAX experience varies among theatres. Actual IMAX theatres with proper specifications deliver an immersive cinematic experience with grand visuals and superior audio. However, some theatres may fall short, so choose wisely and let the magic of authentic IMAX sweep you off your feet!

Box Office Collection Report

Quiz Time

Keeping in line with the IMAX buzz, the question for this week is - Name the first IMAX theatre to ever open in the world.

Hint:-

Answer of the last week’s quiz:

Q-Name the first official Indian Documentary ever made.

A-In 1888 a short film of wrestlers Pundalik Dada and Krishna Navi at Bombay's Hanging Gardens was filmed by Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatwadekar. This was the first recorded documentary film in India.

News Buzz!

• The ongoing Sag-Aftra strike does not seem to be settling anytime soon. If anything, the strike has witnessed support from the leading industry actors and directors like Christopher Nolan. Read more here

• World’s Top Anime Site, Crunchyroll owned by Sony, is looking to make significant investments in India to drive growth. This is an interesting development for the booming Anime industry. Read more here

And with that, it's a wrap on this edition of Leeds1888.

Vipul