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Author Topic: RealD enters into size contest with Imax Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 06-26-2013 04:59 PM                     Watch out Imax, there's another big screen that may be coming to town. RealD, the company that likely brings you your 3D experience in your local theater, is testing out a new premium large screen format in London called "LUXE: A RealD Experience." The new large format theatrical experience is intended to compete with the biggest name in big screens, Imax. RealD is calling it “ultimate out-of-home entertainment experience." “Disparate premium large format brands have limited the potential of today’s high-end cinema offerings,” said Joseph Peixoto, RealD president of worldwide cinema. “With an alphabet soup of brands and differing amenities in each auditorium, moviegoers have been left unable to truly equate their PLF experience with a single offering." “’LUXE: A RealD Experience,’" Peixoto continued, "intends to solve this puzzle by unifying the exhibition community under one brand with one set of industry leading technology standards for an exceptional entertainment experience moviegoers will seek out for years to come.” Auditoriums will be equipped with screens that are at least 16 meters in width and feature 3D sound. Karo Film in Russia and Arena Cinema in Bulgaria will partner with RealD to install the screens. RealD is currently talking with other exhibitors in the U.S. and Europe to feel out possibilities for a launch in larger markets. Theaters are looking for innovative way to attract customers back to the theater in the era of busy schedules and quality home entertainment systems. Large format screens provide an experience that the home currently doesn't provide -- although Imax is now servicing wealthy clients who want an Imax in their home. However, theaters might be looking for a competitive alternative to Imax which currently dominates the large screen market. RealD already has solid relationships with the nation's exhibitors, with its 3D technology in approximately 22,700 theaters in 68 countries. http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2013/06/24/reald-enters-into-size-contest-with-imax.html  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 06-26-2013 06:28 PM                        3d sound?  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 06-26-2013 07:32 PM                     I assume by 3D sound they mean Barco Auro 3D, Dolby Atmos, or other immersive audio format yet to come.  |  IP: Logged Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 06-26-2013 10:01 PM                        16 meters is considered large?  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-26-2013 11:11 PM                     Big flippin' deal. I've yet to see a branded (public or private label) "mega-gargantuan-awesome-X" screen that was done right.  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 06-26-2013 11:37 PM                     Yawn  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-27-2013 10:52 AM                        IMAX at this stage of the game can only claim to have BIG screens if you compare them to some of the matchbox screens in many multiplex operations. But they are only RELATIVELY large from that standpoint; but if you compare them for what counted as big screens in days of single screen movie theatres where really large 70mm screens were commonplace, today's LIEMAX is no IMAX. So now we are going to be asked to pay MORE for quality presentation? Since when did theatres charge by the screen foot? Oh...I guess since now. So will these new screens just be bigger or will the RealD 'luxe experience" include dual projectors so the image isn't just the same light spread out over a larger screen....fewer "lux"? The size of the screen is irrelevant -- anyone can increase the size of the screen -- what kind of image will be thrown up on it is what matters. And what does a theatre owner need RealD for (other than marketing hype...like coming up with that great logo 'LUXE and the unique phrase "ReaD Experience" -- you know, like IMAX's trademarked moniker)? Anyone can put in larger screens if they choose; anyone can install dual projectors if they want that bigger screen to be reach decent "'lux" levels and color saturation. What has ReaD to do with it? Besides, hasn't there been a slew of big screen "X" marketing attempts before? Wasn't it AMC that tried a big screen premium gimmick awhile back?  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 06-27-2013 04:32 PM                     Any cinema with RealD can advertise "a RealD Experience" The LUXE branding would have to be strong to promote any difference over a regular RealD screen. This is similar to the brand issue Dolby had as cinemas could still claim to have "Dolby Sound" with outdated equipment. I worked at a site that had a dual 35mm/Dcinema booth still running Dolby A-Type NR. The company's website boasted "state of the art equipment" even though some of their 35mm projectors were over 50 years old!  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 06-27-2013 05:10 PM                     I wonder if this means Real-D is predicting a large decline in 3D (let us pray) and they are trying to stay relevant.  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 06-27-2013 11:31 PM                     Lyle I'd say thats prolly a good guess.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 06-28-2013 01:57 AM                     Gonna see huge megapixel display resolutions with this "RealDumb" process?  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 06-28-2013 10:45 AM                     Why can't they just give us a 100 foot 2.40:1 curved screen, with masking and curtains, and Dolby Atmos? I'd much rather see that than IMAX, unless it's native 15/70. AJG  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-28-2013 11:42 AM                        I'll second that...but I'd even settle for a 60 footer given the size of most auditoria. And it better be dual projection or the DCI "consortium" bunch will probably reduce the brightness "standard" to 1.5FtL; you know, that ol make-the-standard-meet-whatever-the-equipment-can-manage scam they use for 3D. As for the 3D haters, don't hold your breaths waiting for 3D to go away when the biggest record-breaking money-making tent poles this season are 3D titles. Sure, sure, I know the "the reason they are money printing machines for the studios is not because they are in 3D" argument, but try to convince studios bean-counters not to continue mimicing whatever it is that turns them big profits. So those of us who love 3D are quite comfortable knowing 3D is not going away; and in case you haven't noticed, 3D has gotten MUCH better in the last few years, especially the 3D-from-a-computer-in-post titles; as it's matured, 3D is mostly used only as an enhancement, not a gimmick. And for LOTS of people, it's IS an enhancement, probably as much as color or multi-channel sound or wide screen. Is 3D NECESSARY to tell a good story? Is color, or a scope ratio? Probably not...but none of that is going away because the public wants and expects those "enhancements." 3D is about as likely to go away as is digital projection -- it's just not going to happen, even if you can argue aesthetic reasons why it should. 3D is too intimately associated with blockbuster money-makers -- that alone guarantees that it will have longevity. It is here to stay, like it or not; best thing to do is to just get used to it because where money is concerned, Lyle, praying won't help. When I walk into a newly built theatre, I pray that it will have a sizable curved screen, proper masking and a screen curtain...my prayers only get me one out of three and only if I am lucky.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 06-28-2013 11:54 AM                     Now this could be cool with proper illumination. That's a big screen experience. AJG  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-28-2013 12:06 PM                     I'm sorry, but applying the term "large format" to any digital projection based system is unadulterated horse shit. These so-called "large format" theaters aren't breaking any records in terms of screen size. I've seen plenty of 35mm film based theaters use screens just as big. Example: the UA Galaxy theater in Garland, TX. Its biggest house had a screen 80' wide, labeled "the biggest screen in Texas" no less. The sound system was THX certified. Yet that theater didn't charge customers a premium over any of the other screens in the complex. It wasn't advertised as "large format" either. Or maybe we can look at it in "digital" terms. The two Grand Auditoriums at the Moore Warren 14 in Moore, OK have screens around 75' or 80' in width. To me, they look every bit as big or maybe even a bit bigger than the screen in their IMAX Digital house on the North end of the complex. The only aspect of the Grand Auditoriums that commands a price premium: the balcony seating. A couple weeks ago I watched Man of Steel on Harkins' Cine Capris screen in Bricktown, downtown Oklahoma City. That screen is at least 70' wide. The movie was shown in 2D (the screen was too big for any single projector 3D process). The sound was Dolby Atmos. I paid a standard admission price for that big screen experience, with a new state-of-the-art sound process no less. To me "large format" is strictly a film-based term -meaning anything bigger than standard 35mm. In order for companies like IMAX, RealD, as well as the various theater chains doing their own in-house "large format" branding, they need to either come up with a different term or make some radical improvements to the projection technology -improvements that would only be used in the biggest houses. I don't think installing a pair of DLP video projectors is enough. I see, at best, a negligible difference between an IMAX Digital show and the same movie using a single projector on a smaller screen. The screen size is the only primary difference. With a lot of IMAX branded houses the size isn't even much of a difference either. I'm still waiting to see what IMAX rolls out in regard to laser projection. A laser based, dual projector setup with both projectors sporting 4K resolution (and fed nothing but 4K native resolution content) might be a good start. Even if that turns out to deliver a big improvement in image quality IMAX still has to do something about that sound system.  |  IP: Logged

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