I remember when 3D was the future of cinema. A little movie called Avatar had been released and the 3D experience was to pull audiences back into theaters like never before. I even went out and bought a 3D TV. Used the 3D function once. Today, I don’t even know where the glasses are. Now, apparently, IMAX is the future.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has done many things. It has provided grown-up counter-programming to Barbie. It has shown studios that there is still an audience for adult-orientated movies in a world of cape shit. It is now being talked up as a harbinger of the growing importance of IMAX.
Nolan is a massive advocate of IMAX, never missing a chance to extol its virtue as an exhibition format. It has worked out for him, as Oppenheimer has taken $179 million globally from IMAX alone. That is the same amount as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One managed in its domestic run.
Now fellow director Denis Villeneuve is getting in on the act. In an interview with The Associated Press he declared Nolan’s movie as “a masterpiece” and heralded the impact of IMAX:
“The future of cinema is IMAX and the large formats. The audience wants to see something that they cannot have at home, that they cannot have on streaming. They want to experience an event.”
No IMAX TVs in your living room, so you have no choice but to get out there to the movie studio to see the film as the director intended. Of course, the issue is that real IMAX theaters are still not widespread. Faux-IMAX is cropping up everywhere, but that true IMAX with multi-story high screens usually necessitates a trip into a city.
Oppenheimer will arrive on digital platforms in late November after an exclusive 4-month window. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. weeps softly into their empty bank account.
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