I’ve been working over at IMAX in Santa Monica the last few weeks, overseeing the conversion of RIDDICK into its giant-ass supersize-me format. Hasn’t always been an easy task: David Eggby and I shot the movie widescreen (2.40:1), yet the native aspect ratio of IMAX is much taller (1.90:1). That’s no small difference to reconcile.
My solution was to adopt different aspect ratios within the same movie – something that was never done 10 years ago when film was still king. But now that we use an entirely digital pipeline, we can vary the size of the image on the screen – on a shot-by-shot basis. So that’s what I opted to do for the IMAX version. (RIDDICK will have about 300 IMAX screens.)
And don’t confuse IMAX with 3D as some do. They’re distinct things, and a movie can be one…can be the other…can be both. So RIDDICK will be big – but not extra-dimensional. I think straight IMAX yields a superior viewing experience and is here for good. But 3D? Not sure it’s so much more immersive than a screen 70 feet high. That said…
The good folks at IMAX did run IRON MAN 3 for me in both large format and 3D. And let me tell you, it was quite a spectacle. So I’ll keep my mind open for awhile longer on the ultimate utility and fate of 3D.
RIDDICK is set for release in the US and Canada September 6. Next post, I’ll try to include international release dates since some of you who live overseas have been asking.
Great news, David! I’ll be sure to see it in IMAX here in Canada. Appreciate all your hard work.
3D is horrible, Riddick should kill 3D movies. Imax it’s cool.
The release in France is 18 september, I can’t wait to see Riddick again. Thanks for this franchise.
I love IMAX and I will watch Riddick in IMAX for sure, if I can.
3D really depends on the execution. Sometimes it can be a bit irritating, sometimes it’s not really noticeable and rarely it really enhances the experience like with Avatar. That’s still the best 3D experience yet in my opinion.
The Trailer is AMAZING. But I see a little mistake:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/266/sanstitrejwm.png/
The goggles have a problem! (The goggls have no lens, strange)
I can’t wait. Also, this website is the best kept secret of the internet!!!!
What does it mean then that the movie was converted in IMAX? If it was shot Widescreen, THEN does this mean that the IMAX version is the equivalent of seeing a converted widescreen movie into (almost) fullscreen like they used to do in home movies??
Comments are closed.