Spidey is at it again, but this time the story of Peter Parker has gone back in time, where a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy is revealed. The Amazing Spider-Man dives deeper into Peter’s past, as his superpowers are evolving during a quest of discovery. This new plot from the Marvel Comics originally created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, will follow the story of Peter as a troubled high-schooler, who meets his first love Gwen Stacy. Together they face the obstacles that stand in their way due to Peter’s new found identity as Spider-Man.
The Amazing Spider-Man will feature key scenes with an increased aspect ratio that will maximize on the IMAX screen. Watch Marc Webb as he talks about TASM and its unique aspect ratio below:
The Amazing Spider-Man is a fresh look at Spidey and tells a new story of Peter Parker as a high-schooler who’s on a journey of self-discovery. After its July 3 release many have hit the web to share their take on the new Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as his high school love, Gwen Stacy. There’s no question this version of Spidey is unlike any other and has the web buzzing. Here are a few interesting highlights on The Amazing Spider-Man. Take a look below.
Check out this piece from Cinema Blend that shows how the Spider-Man trilogy and Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man aligns with the original comic. Very insightful excerpt below:
The Spider Bite
In The Comics: The story of how Midtown High’s only professional wallflower became Spider-Man began when he first decided to go to a radioactivity exhibit at the local science museum. During the middle of an experiment that Peter is watching, a spider crosses into a radioactive beam, lands on Peter’s hand, and bites him. The effects of the bite are almost instantaneous, as Peter leaves the museum and immediately shows off his spider-sense skills. And thus, Spider-Man was born…
How The Amazing Spider-Man Does It: Webb chooses not to stray too far from formula either, but does add his own details. He skips the museum and the random genetics lab and replaces them with Oscorp (which is working on cross-species genetics…though we’ll talk more about that later) and instead of hitting Peter’s hand, the advanced spider finds its way to the hero’s neck. I won’t spoil how, when or where, but the effects of the bite take a bit longer than in the first comic and a bit shorter than in Raimi’s Spider-Man.
Comicbookmovie.com writes: “TASM is great to look at. The CGI is VERY good, and the Andrew Garfield looks like a true to life Comic version of Peter Parker. With his wiry body and big spikey hair he looks like he's been pulled right out of the comic. The web-slinging POV and other shots are very good and usually end up in some sort of Iconic imagery. The poses that Garfield had to strike are incredible.”Click here for the full scoop.
San Francisco Chronicle writes: “Garfield, a good actor, has a prickly, ruffled undertone that makes him, by nature, more active, more angry and more suited to prowling the streets at night. It's easier to believe in his anger.”Check out the full review here.
On the NEW Spider-Man story:
News Strait Times writes: “So what is the coolest thing about The Amazing Spider-Man? Two words — Imax 3D (where available). With the reboot, viewers have come to expect all kinds of aerial dives, spins, jumps and fantastic leaps and the good thing is, they are all there. And with the jumbo Imax screen and the crisp digital quality with 3D effects, it can be unnerving at times, especially when Peter Parker (Garfield) dives head first from very tall buildings.”Click here for more Spidey love.
The Blog by The Huffington Post writes: “The good news is that The Amazing Spider-Man is truly amazing. Yes, it's an origin story. And yes, it's an excellent one. It's engaging and thrilling and even moving, and our screening was visually stunning in 3-D IMAX. Tip-top score by James Horner, too. Enthused, I spoke with its director, Marc Webb.” (continued below)
Marc Webb on the emotion behind the action:
“Weirdly, in the action, the same principles apply as in the other scenes. An action scene, at its best, has an emotional undercurrent," he reveals to aspiring filmmakers the world around. "It's about character development. At the beginning of the scene, Peter Parker is motivated primarily by vengeance; his crimefighting is incidental. At the end of the scene...there's a reconciliation...the like of which Peter Parker realizes he's never going to have. Andrew does a beautiful thing, he tilts his head to the side, and you realize there's a kid behind this mask, envying that experience, envying that moment -- but also letting it go. It's one of my favorite moments in the movie, because there's a real emotional connection to the action.” Don’t you just love the emotion that Spidey-talk evokes from Webb? We do too. Read more here.
Liberty Science Center Prepares for the Arrival of TDKR in IMAX
The Dark Knight Rises is proving to be one of 2012’s most highly-anticipated films. With a runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes, many theatres are preparing for the showing of The Dark Knight Rises. Take a moment to check out the behind-the-scenes video of Liberty Science Center’s tech guy Joseph Columbo as he walks through what goes into showing such an epic film, which has the longest runtime of any film ever shown at LSC. He uses awesome words like platters, QTRU, decks etc. It’s a pretty big deal. Check it out below:
Video produced by Joseph Galbo with special thanks to Liberty Science Center's Joseph Colombo and Mary Meluso.
Now playing and featuring over an hour of footage filmed with IMAX cameras. Experience the end to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy the way it was meant to be seen—in IMAX. Visit the links below for information on purchasing tickets at your local IMAX theatre.
Please visit exhibitor websites for more information on playdates.
The IMAX® camera is an integral part of IMAX’s history. The IMAX® camera is more than a piece of equipment used to capture images, it delivers lifelike images that no other camera has been able to match since its invention more than 35 years ago.
Take a behind the scenes look as Mike Hendriks of IMAXs Camera Department and Producer Lorne Orleans talk about IMAX film technology and the adventures of the IMAX® camera.
We’ve also compiled a list of interesting facts below about the IMAX camera and what makes it so spectacular. We’re not trying to brag, but we are pretty proud of it.
- IMAX developed its first 2D 15perf / 65mm film camera in 1976. To this day, it remains the highest-resolution camera in the world.
- When captured with the IMAX® camera, the image projected in IMAX features approximately 10x more resolution than conventional 35mm film – providing unparalleled size and quality.
- In IMAX, sequences shot with the extremely high-resolution IMAX® cameras expand vertically to fill the entire screen – delivering up to 40% more of the image than standard theatres with unprecedented crispness, clarity and color saturation for a truly immersive experience.
IMAX 70mm vs. standard 35 mm widescreen. Photo Courtesy of DC Comics/Warner Brothers Pictures
- To grasp the image clarity, consider a home HD television screen with 1,920 pixels of horizontal resolution. An IMAX frame from the original negative, meanwhile, has a resolution upward of 18,000 pixels.
- IMAX runs its film through the cameras and projectors sideways through a proprietary rolling-loop IMAX projector, with the sprocket holes — 15 perforations per frame — at the top and bottom instead of the sides.
- Only a select group of Hollywood directors have ever used IMAX® cameras in feature films, including Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, Michael Bay in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Brad Bird in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, to name a few.
- In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the production crew had to remove 15 windows from the world’s tallest building, The Burj Khalifa, at 1.5 miles in the air to harness the IMAX® camera so it could capture Tom Cruise performing his death-defying and vertigo-inducing stunt.
- The first IMAX® 3D 15perf / 65mm film camera was developed in 1999. In 2011, IMAX’s Born to Be Wild 3D marked the first documentary to use IMAX® 3D digital cameras.
- In 1988, IMAX designed a special purpose camera for filming at speeds up to 120 frames per second (fps). This camera has enabled filmmakers to film at speeds above the customary 24 fps, allowing for the slow-motion effect in large-format filmmaking.
Scene from IMAX documentary To the Arctic Photo: Shaun MacGillivray
- IMAX® cameras have been modified to withstand the most frigid temperatures in Antarctica, the highest altitudes of Mount Everest and the deepest recesses of the ocean floor at the site of the Titanic (2.5 miles below sea level).
- Whether confronting tornados, meeting Earth’s most terrifying animals or being strapped to a Formula One car or an F16, IMAX® cameras have been capturing the experiences most people dream of (or fear) for more than 30 years.
- IMAX® cameras have accompanied NASA astronauts to space 24 times. During these trips, over 145 astronauts have been trained to use the camera.
Whether it be a space or nature documentary or a feature film, the IMAX camera has been used to capture some of the best moments that draw audiences into the movie for the most immersive experience available. More Hollywood directors are choosing to capture their movies using the IMAX camera. In 2013 you can expect to see the sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (May 17, 2013) and Francis Lawrence's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 22, 2013) in IMAX and these directors have chosen to capture select scenes using the IMAX camera. We are looking forward to watching this list grow and will update you with upcoming film announcements.
In the mean time, check out other IMAX 101 series posts below:
For more than 40 years, IMAX has been in the business of creating experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seats to a world you’ve never imagined.
We started out as a large-format documentary maker focused on museums and science centers - taking audiences on adventures from the depths of the ocean to the outer limits of space.
While our documentary roots continue to be a key part of our business, we started to wonder what would happen if we brought The IMAX Experience to Hollywood?
Challenge accepted!
We put our top scientists, mathematicians, programmers, engineers and artists on the case. Fast-forward past the grueling hours, months, even years that it took to create the revolutionary new solution and you get the enhancement process that can turn an already powerful Hollywood movie into a breathtaking IMAX blockbuster. Today, we call this process IMAX DMR or digital re-mastering.
Now, nearly 10 years later – IMAX has become a sought-after partner for the best in Hollywood with an extensive catalogue of movies that have undergone the IMAX DMR process and have been brought to you in IMAX theatres across the globe.
So what exactly is DMR you ask?
Simply put (although not simply done):
Watching a movie in IMAX is like seeing a different movie. That’s because the content being shown in an IMAX theatre is significantly better than the content playing down the hall.
The secret sauce in the IMAX mix is IMAX DMR. It’s the transformative process we use to enhance and optimize the image and sound of Hollywood and local-language feature films for our format.
During this process, IMAX spends hours, weeks and months working directly with the filmmakers and technical teams of each film on dozens of ways to enhance the movie, including adjusting the saturation, contrast, brightness, re-mixing the soundtrack, and a bunch of other variables in virtually every frame.
The result delivers an unparalleled image and sound quality that is designed specifically for IMAX theatres.
When did all of this happen?
Our first Hollywood DMR title was the re-release of Apollo 13 in 2002. Apollo 13 was a great fit for an IMAX presentation and a great transition from our space documentaries to a space feature film. Check back for an upcoming post where we’ll demonstrate the difference our DMR process made to Apollo 13.
Stay tuned as the love story between IMAX and blockbuster movies unfolds where we’ll give an in-depth look into how the process is done as well as the history of our DMR titles.
Now that you’ve been formally introduced to our DMR technology, (if you haven’t, please click here to catch up) we’d like to dive a bit deeper into what happens behind the scenes during this transformative process.
As we’ve mentioned in other posts, your experience in an IMAX theatre is entirely different from any other theatre. One of the key reasons is because the content being shown in an IMAX theatre is significantly better than the content playing down the hall.
Want to know how it’s really done? Below we discuss the step-by-step process:
IMAGE RE-MASTERING
Let’s start with the picture. The IMAX screen isn’t simply larger (spanning from wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling), it’s also positioned closer to the audience - filling your peripheral view and making you feel like you’re a part of the action. This also means, however, that the quality of the content we project has to be that much greater (or else it would be like sitting up really close to your brand new 60 inch 1080p LCD TV while it is playing standard cable at 480p…now instead of 60 inches, imagine IMAX!).
In order to provide you with those crystal-clear, lifelike images you see each time you visit an IMAX theatre, our DMR artists commit countless hours working with the filmmakers and technical teams of each film to deliver the best possible image, frame-by-frame.
The IMAX DMR team starts by scanning, at the highest resolution possible, each individual frame of the 35mm film and converting them into digital images. If the images were originally captured digitally, IMAX acquires the highest resolution source material.
Next, we analyze the useful information contained within the original source material using our proprietary image enhancement tools, developed and refined over many years, to optimize each image (frame-by-frame) for IMAX presentation. Some of the techniques used to enhance the digital image include sharpening, color correction, contrast enhancement, digital artifact removal, and eliminating unsteadiness.
This is an extremely collaborative process and you will often find the director and technical teams of each film in our Santa Monica DMR facility reviewing and providing input on the results. While our overall objective is to deliver the best possible image, we are extremely dedicated to ensuring that we help the filmmaker achieve their creative vision.
Once we’ve received sign off from the filmmaker, the enhanced digital signal is then recorded onto either 15/70 film or an IMAX DCP (digital cinema package) resulting in a visual presentation which, when projected through IMAX’s state-of-the-art projection systems, is brighter, crisper, steady and absolutely stunning.
SOUND RE-MASTERING
The same goes for sound. The standard soundtrack of a film is created for various types and sizes of theatres (large, small, drive-ins, etc.) and has to work with different types of sound equipment. In order to accommodate all of this, the final soundtrack has to be compatible with the lowest common denominator (i.e. you don’t get the best quality sound possible). Since we have complete control over the design and technology sitting in our theatres, we can work the filmmaker to create a unique and optimized soundtrack for IMAX.
For IMAX DMR releases, our dedicated sound team goes back to the “stems” – which are the original tracks from the movie shoot – and remixes them to recapture their full dynamic range, taking advantage of the higher power of sound in an IMAX theatre and the greater range (higher highs and lower lows) of IMAX’s sound systems.
This allows for the creation of a soundtrack that’s not just crisper and brighter, but also more attuned to the emotional demands of the story on screen. Its part of the reason you feel every bone-chilling moment of your favorite movies. Check out our Rock of Ages post highlighting IMAX audio.
One more thing is important for both kinds of re-mastering. With ordinary films, when the director sees the final cut, that’s practically the only time anyone sees it. Once it’s out in distribution, the prints get scratched, the sprockets stretch, the projector gate shifts, the focus turns soft and the experience inevitably changes and deteriorates.
Another part of what directors like about IMAX is our consistency and commitment to quality. That comes from our locked-in digital masters and projection systems and the uniformity of our theatres (there’s a computer-based process that regularly recalibrates the image and sound in every theatre). That means the original IMAX movie the director signed off on is the same IMAX movie the public sees – every showing, every day, in every IMAX theatre around the world.
Check back for more DMR and IMAX tech information in our IMAX 101 blogposts.
The Polar Express was a milestone in IMAX history. As our first DMR 3D movie, The Polar Express changed the way the industry viewed 3D technology, especially in IMAX. We invited Hugh Murray from our film technology team to come share his experience working onthe film.
Read what Hugh had to say below:
Finding the right opportunity to develop our first 3D feature film was no easy feat. We were winning studios and filmmakers over with our Digital Re-Mastering (IMAX DMR) technology, but this was our opportunity to take it a step further by displaying our 3D conversion (or rendering because it isn’t subject to the limitations in a live-action conversion to 3D) technology in a Hollywood movie. Although our 3D technology had been proven through our multiple space and science documentaries, introducing this technology to Hollywood was a tough sell.
Creating a 3D version of the filmjust for IMAX was an idea suggested by IMAX and supported by Warner Brothers, but was greeted with a bit of skepticism by both director Robert Zemeckis and the team at Sony Pictures Imageworks - who were creating the performance-captured animation. Although they were hesitant, we were confident that the result of our DMR and 3D transformation process would surely turn doubters to believers.
Under the initial agreement, Rob Engle and the team at Sony Pictures Imageworks were to render 3D versions of a few of the shots that were near completion at that early phase in production. This way they would gain some experience and Robert Zemeckis would get to the see the results. An early test raised a concern by the production group that the shots chosen were very tame in terms of camera motion and that there might be a strobing issue in IMAX with other, more typical sequences. To address these concerns, a second test was designed around a very fast motion sequence.
In this sequence, the hero/boy in the film (he was never given a name in the film) pulls the emergency brake to stop the train to allow another (un-named lonely-boy) character to get on. The cutting is fast and in one shot the camera does a very fast pan-around inside the carriage – conditions that can sometimes make the action hard to follow on a larger screen. While the sequence suggested by the production for the test had four shots, it was followed by a shot in which the braking locomotive comes straight at camera. Knowing what we could do with a shot like this, I asked Sony Pictures Imageworks if they would add this shot to the list as a cleaner ending to the test sequence. I designed the 3D so that the business end of the cow-catcher on the locomotive appears to come to a final stop just a few feet from your nose. When we screened the test for Robert Zemeckis in March 2004, he turned in his seat as it ended, and the rest of the small audience applauded and simply said, “I think you guys are going to be busy”. And that was the launch of Polar Express in IMAX 3D - no more doubts!
- Hugh
We’d like to say “and the rest was history,” but the project was far from over. After the director agreed to do the movie in IMAX 3D, the project was then handed off to Rob Engle from Sony Pictures Imageworks. We also tracked down Rob to find out more about his experience and he graciously gave his account of creating The Polar Express in IMAX 3D.
Check out Rob’s point of view below:
After Hugh and the IMAX team were given the green light, my team was brought in to complete the process. I was responsible for building the pipeline or the tools needed to make the movie in 3D and had roughly 6 months to make this happen.
The excitement among our group was booming around what I’d like to call “The Grand Experiment”. This was my first time working on an IMAX 3D film and Hugh and I worked to develop the recipe for creating a great stereoscopic 3D film. We worked together, scene-by-scene, from converting the 2D portions to 3D to finding the right opportunities to maximize the 3D effects. It was a case of figuring things out as we went along.
One great thing about making The Polar Express in IMAX 3D was Robert Zemeckis filmmaking style. His style is very spatial in nature, which lends itself well to 3D filmmaking. He tends to use longer cuts, which allows individual shots to stay on screen longer than average. This pairs well with 3D films because oftentimes when you do a cut in 3D it’s like pulling a rug from under the audience. Bob also tends to keep the camera in motion with deep composition of shots—with foreground, midground, and background subjects that works strongly in a 3D picture.
Working with Bob and the IMAX team on The Polar Express was a great experience that shaped my enthusiasm for 3D movies. We were able to experiment and push 3D in ways that hadn’t been imagined before that point. Watching the movie in IMAX 3D was like watching a different movie entirely, the story came alive in the 3D medium.
Now, 14 films later (only one 2D), I’m dedicated to using 3D technology as an art of storytelling. I witnessed how The Polar Express introduced 3D to Hollywood featurefilmmaking and changed the industry’s view of the technology. What started as an experiment ended up teaching many people how a powerful 3D picture could positively impact the filmmaking industry. As many of our greatest inventions, it all begins with “The Grand Experiment”.
-Rob
The Polar Express was IMAX’s opportunity to take our DMR technology one step further and introduce IMAX 3D to Hollywoodfeature films. Now, 44 IMAX 3D films later, we continue to push the envelope on entertainment technology. We’re no stranger to proving the seemingly impossible and helping to turn an experiment into an art form. The Polar Express has changed the way the industry views 3D technology, especially in IMAX.
Exclusively for IMAX fans as part of IMAX’s 12:01 program - those attending the Frankenweenie midnight shows in the first hours of October 5 will receive a limited edition Frankenweenie print using an original sketch by Tim Burton. While supplies last. Find a list of participating theatres below and get your tickets here.
MY parents raised me in a blue-collar neighborhood of Plainview, N.Y., on Long Island. My mother was a homemaker and my father was a furrier, a job that left him unemployed for months at a time, because no one bought fur coats during the summer.
One day I was visiting my father at work, and his supervisor told him that it was time to get back to work. From that day, I decided I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I began by shining shoes and mowing lawns, then working as a shipping clerk at a fabric company. I’m a born entrepreneur, and in junior high school I started a monthly newspaper,The New York Ball, to carry news of New York sports teams. I enlisted other students to sell the paper at Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum, and sold it at New York City newsstands and via subscriptions. I signed on some big advertisers like Keds shoes.
The large-screen company has been looking to partner on more local-language movie releases with a eye on potentially exporting them to other large markets.
IMAX Corp. and Chinese film studio Huayi Bros. Group on Wednesday unveiled an expansion of their partnership that had started with the theatrical release of Aftershock: The IMAX Experience in 2010.
They will partner on the digital re-mastering of four upcoming Huayi Bros. films in the IMAX format. They will be released in theaters across China throughout the remainder of 2012. The companies also said they have agreed to present an additional three Huayi Bros. films in IMAX, bringing to eight the total of number of films included under the expanded partnership.
The first four films, announced at a press conference in Beijing, are martial arts action films Tai Chi 0, which will be released on Sept. 27, and sequel Tai Chi Hero, which follows on Oct. 25, historical drama Back to 1942, which doesn’t have a launch date yet, and adventure film Chinese Zodiac, which will reach IMAX theaters on Dec. 20.
“We are delighted to expand our partnership with Huayi Bros. as they share our commitment to showcasing the incredible talent and passion of Chinese cinema,” said IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond. “Today, we are delivering on our promise to present more local-language titles in IMAX for Chinese audiences to enjoy. We believe this strategy will also create opportunities for IMAX to export these films to other large markets, such as Southeast Asia and North America.” Read the entire article on The Hollywood Reporter's website.
Canada's Cinemas Guzzo is to install two giant screens in one of its new multiplexes after a successful summer trial in Montreal.
TORONTO – IMAX is moving ahead with plans to install two of its giant screens in a single multiplex in Canada.
The large format exhibitor expanded its joint venture agreement with Canadian partner Cinemas Guzzo for another three theaters to bring its cross-chain presence to eight screens.
And one of the new venues will have a second IMAX screen installed in the same multiplex.
IMAX and Cinemas Guzzo tested the second-screen concept in Montreal’s Mega-Plex Marche Central 18 complex, which opened in July.
The second-screen strategy allows IMAX greater flexibility to meet consumer demand for its films, especially on opening weekends for Hollywood blockbusters when theater sell-outs are common.
Vincenzo Guzzo, executive vp of Cinemas Guzzo, said the experiment paid off, paving the way for a second IMAX screen to be installed in the Mega-Plex Taschereau 18 in Brossard in November. Read the entire article on The Hollywood Reporter's website.
The third installment of the hit action franchise will bow in 2013 and will be the first Indian production to also release in IMAX formats.
NEW DELHI – IMAX Corporation and Bollywood banner Yash Raj Films announced that action thriller Dhoom:3 will be the first Indian local language production to be released in the IMAX format.
Produced by YRF's creative head Aditya Chopra and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya,Dhoom:3 will see the buddy cop franchise's principal leads, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra, alongwith new cast members, top actress Katrina Kaif and leading actor Aamir Khan.
The youngest son of YRF founder and veteran film-maker Yash Chopra, Uday is also the CEO of YRF's Hollywood-based production and financing company YRF Entertainment. Recently, YRF Entertainment and Paris-based Stone Angels announced their co-production, Grace of Monaco. Directed by Olivier Dahan (La Vie En Rose), the film stars Nicole Kidman in the title role. Read the entire article on The Hollywood Reporter's website.
If you have loved watching Batman and Spiderman on IMAX, get ready to see Bollywood's superstar Khans in action on the same gigantic screen by next year.
IMAX, the technology that makes movie-watching a larger-than-life experience, is set to tap into the Bollywood and South Indian film market.
The technology has been popular in the West but very few multiplexes offer the facility in India.
'The film-viewing experience can be elevated only when the audience has sufficient theatres and great content.
'We plan to leave the Indian audience mesmerised and change their film-viewing habits with IMAX,' says Greg Foster, chairman and president, Filmed Entertainment, IMAX Corporation.
Foster, who was in the city on Thursday, discussed the company's plan to open 14 theatres in various cities and also provide content to Bollywood films.
IMAX essentially is a technology that lets films be projected on a far greater resolution on a gigantic backdrop. Read the entire article on The Daily Mail's website.
Many feel that the technology will mark the next big visual revolution in cinema after 3D. In India, the company has tied up with multiplex giants PVR and Satyam as of now.
We can all relate to Victor Frankenstein, an impressionable young boy who loves his pet dog Sparky more than anything. Just imagine: Sparky and Victor side by side, making movies, conducting experiments, and getting into all sorts of mischief. Now picture Victor: brokenhearted from losing his best friend Sparky. Yes, we know, very sad. While many of us would try to forget the pain of losing our best pet pal, Victor has another idea. Inspired by his science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski, Victor finds a way to bring Sparky back to life – sending the small town of New Holland into shock.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex Screening Series presented by IMAX, many eager fans were able to have the first look at this heartwarming tale and experience the genius of Tim Burton in IMAX 3D.
Those are some dedicated fans.
But guess who was first in line? These guys!
After the screening, fans were treated to a Q&A with the legendary Martin Landau!
In Frankenweenie, Landau’s third collaboration with Tim Burton, he voices the character of Mr. Rzykruski (try saying that three times), Victor Frankenstein’s controversial science teacher. Many will agree that there’s a bit of resemblance between Landau and Rzykruski. What do you think?
Landau spoke about his unique relationship with Tim Burton and their kinesthetic connection. “Tim and I don’t finish a sentence,” Landau explains during his interview with Hero Complex contributor Rebecca Keegan. “We kind of understand each other.”
Landau got creative developing the voice of Mr. Rzykruski, a character assigned no birthplace in the script, but labeled, rather generically, “European.” Landau designated the character a citizen of the imagined country of “Slobovia” and invented for him the native accent of “slobs.”
Landau candidly recalls working on Burton’s Ed Wood and his relationship with Vincent Price, who was part of the inspiration for his portrayal of Mr. Rzykruski.
After seeing the film for the first time, Landau was stunned by how the Rzykruski puppet came to life on screen. Mr. Rzykruski’s movements and expressions were exactly as Landau had imagined when voicing the character. He seemed utterly elated that the collaborative vision of Burton and the animation team could be so in tune with his own. Watch part 3 here: ‘Frankenweenie’: Inside the Actor’s Studio with Martin Landau
--IMAX Corp. benefiting from growth in movie-going among the Chinese public
--IMAX signing deals to screen more Chinese films to hedge against blackouts on foreign imports
--Company to increase its number of China screens by 50% this year
BEIJING-IMAX Corp. is benefiting from explosive growth in movie-going in China, and hasn't seen any impact from the wider economic slowdown there, Chief Executive Richard Gelfond said.
At the same time, the company is signing deals to show more Chinese-made films on its giant, high-resolution screens--a hedge against Chinese regulators' practice of imposing blackout periods on screenings of foreign films, Mr. Gelfond told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
IMAX's box-office revenue per screen in China was up 30% in the first half from a year earlier, he said. The company collects a percentage of box-office receipts from both cinemas and studios for films shown on its jumbo screens, for which moviegoers pay a premium.
"I haven't seen any evidence at all of consumers losing the appetite to spend the incremental money to see an IMAX film," Mr. Gelfond said.
The number of IMAX screens in China is set to grow by about 50% this year, to more than 100 from around 70 at the end of 2011. IMAX has contracts to build a further 140, which would bring the total in China to around 240, compared with around 350 in the U.S., Mr. Gelfond said. Read the entire article on The Wall Street Journal's website.
A black-and-white stop-motion toon that pays loving tribute to Hollywood creature features of yesteryear, this beautifully designed canine-resurrection saga feels, somewhat fittingly, stitched together from stray narrative parts.
The traditional tale of a boy and his dog gets charmingly warped treatment in "Frankenweenie," Tim Burton's latest spooky-fun exercise in animation and reanimation. A black-and-white stop-motion toon that pays loving tribute to Hollywood creature features of yesteryear, this beautifully designed canine-resurrection saga feels, somewhat fittingly, stitched together from stray narrative parts, but nonetheless evinces a level of discipline and artistic coherence missing from the director's recent live-action efforts. Fusing gentle, sentimental emotions and a classically Burtonian obsession with all things morbid and macabre, Disney's Oct. 5 release should fetch lively returns from devotees and general audiences of all ages.
Though decisively superior to "Dark Shadows," the year's other Burton-directed release, "Frankenweenie" merits stronger comparisons with Focus/Laika's recent "ParaNorman," another stop-motion spookfest centered around a young boy's adventures with the undead. The protagonist here is Victor Frankenstein (voiced by Charlie Tahan), who lives with his doting parents (Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short) and his faithful bull terrier, Sparky, in the Dutch-influenced 1970s town of New Holland. Yet Victor might be described more correctly as a resident of Burtonville, a now-universally recognized township where a spirit of deadpan whimsy prevails and even minor characters have been shaped to resemble Igor or Frankenstein's monster. Read the entire review on Variety's website.
Yash Raj Films' (YRF) much-awaited action thriller film "Dhoom 3" will be digitally re-mastered and released in IMAX theatres in India next year.
The third installment of the Dhoom series starring Abhieshk Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif will be the first Indian film to be released in IMAX format across the country and select global locations next year, said YRF and IMAX Corporation in a joint statement.
"Dhoom 3" marks first Indian production to be released in IMAX theatres.
"IMAX has always symbolised high quality film entertainment and experience and this vision of the company works very well with the ethos of YRF which has been synonymous with Indian film entertainment over the last four decades," Yash Chopra said in a statement. Read the entire article at International Business Times.
The epic tale by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer will be digitally remastered and super-sized for a screening on select North American screens.
TORONTO – An IMAX run is in the cards for Cloud Atlas next month.
The epic drama by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer will be digitally re-mastered and released in select North American IMAX theatres on Oct. 26.
Based on David Mitchell's best-selling 2004 novel, Cloud Atlas was written and directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski.
The Wachowskis saw their blockbuster Matrix franchise screen in IMAX theaters.
Their latest film, which bowed in Toronto earlier this month, stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Xun Zhou, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant, all appearing in multiple roles. Read the entire article on The Hollywood Reporter's website.
Most moviegoers will have to wait until Oct. 5 to get spooked by “Frankenweenie,” but a few hundred Hero Complex readers will get to see Tim Burton’s monster movie homage early Thursday night at our free IMAX screening in Century City. The special screening of the black-and-white, stop-motion animated film will include a Q&A with Oscar winner Martin Landau, who voices Vincent Price-inspired science teacher Mr. Rzykruski, moderated by Hero Complex contributor Rebecca Keegan.
A remake of Burton’s 1984 short film of the same name, “Frankenweenie” is about a boy named Victor who loses his dog and deploys science to bring the beloved canine back to life. The film features the voices of Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder and Landau, in his first collaboration with Burton since 1994′s “Ed Wood.” (Check back soon for an in-depth interview with Burton about the film.)
“Frankenweenie” will be the first black-and-white feature and the first stop-motion feature to be released in IMAX 3-D.
Each person who attends our Hero Complex screening will receive a copy of a limited-edition IMAX print from an original sketch by Tim Burton. While supplies last, moviegoers who attend midnight IMAX shows of “Frankenweenie” in the first hours of October 5 will also receive the limited edition print. [Updated] Read the entire article on the Hero Complex website.
On Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker:
The third installment of the hit action franchise will bow in 2013 and will be the first Indian production to also release in IMAX formats.
The epic tale by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer will be digitally remastered and super-sized for a screening on select North American screens.
Most moviegoers will have to wait until Oct. 5 to get spooked by “Frankenweenie,” but a few hundred Hero Complex readers will get to see Tim Burton’s monster movie homage early Thursday night at our free IMAX screening in Century City. The special screening of the black-and-white, stop-motion animated film will include a Q&A with Oscar winner Martin Landau, who voices Vincent Price-inspired science teacher Mr. Rzykruski, moderated by Hero Complex contributor Rebecca Keegan.