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Dunkirk: Nolan's first all 70mm movie.


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According to Cineplex Canada, Dunkirk is 1 hour 47 minutes long. With 100 minutes of IMAX footage, that would mean only 7 minutes of the film are actually in 5 perf 70mm. So pretty much most of the film was shot with IMAX cameras.

 

The only 100% IMAX movie was Wings of Courage, and it was a shorter movie at that. Dunkirk marks the most use of IMAX film cameras for a Hollywood feature.

 

Wow, that's a lot shorter than I was expecting for a Nolan epic/large scale story.

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No kidding. Most of his movies have been getting longer with each release, and the later films were coming close to 3 hours in length. Being less then 2 hours for Nolan is a departure. But at least that means it should be tightly cut with no filler.

 

I'm really curious to see how the 5 perf shots will look on the IMAX screen. They advertised this as a DMR enhanced film, but I believe that may be inaccurate. I'm betting Nolan did optical dupes from 5 perf to 15 perf to maintain quality of the image. The 5 perf stuff should hold up pretty well on the large screen. Last time I saw 5 perf being shown on an IMAX release was Special Effects in around 96-97. It held up well then too, but its been a while since I've seen something like this.

Edited by Scott Pickering
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No kidding. Most of his movies have been getting longer with each release, and the later films were coming close to 3 hours in length. Being less then 2 hours for Nolan is a departure. But at least that means it should be tightly cut with no filler.

 

I'm really curious to see how the 5 perf shots will look on the IMAX screen. They advertised this as a DMR enhanced film, but I believe that may be inaccurate. I'm betting Nolan did optical dupes from 5 perf to 15 perf to maintain quality of the image. The 5 perf stuff should hold up pretty well on the large screen. Last time I saw 5 perf being shown on an IMAX release was Special Effects in around 96-97. It held up well then too, but its been a while since I've seen something like this.

 

I'm sure it'll all look great, I saw Interstellar in 70mm and even the 35mm parts looked great. Though that may be because i've never seen a film print that I can remember. I saw them as a child of course, but by the time I got into caring about image quality the digital projection switch had happened.

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The DMR tag probably refers to the digital release, not the film release.

 

I've been blessed to see some amazing film prints, even recently with Warners release of many films on 5/70. The Wonder Woman print was stellar, absolutely amazing and a world of difference from digital projection... even though it was a laser out to film. I love seeing a good print, it just makes me all giddy because it's rare these days.

 

I don't know how many beans I can spill about what's happening, but suffice to say, there are going to be A LOT of 5/70 prints of Dunkirk made. Rumors are that it will be the biggest roll out since Hateful Eight and that's a small clue into what Kodak are doing. I'm slightly miffed that Warner Brothers didn't allow Nolan to do a pre-release of the movie a week ahead on film. That really kills me because he can seemingly do anything he wants, but when it comes down to it, without purposely forcing the movie onto people projected on film, the vast majority of viewers won't see a film print. The whole point in my opinion is to release it on film early and force people who want to see it, on the correct medium. This is really the holy grail to keep film prints being shown. If you can make them "special" in some way... maybe a longer version, maybe an early release, anything to make it unique to the average audience, it will FORCE them to understand what the difference is.

 

I hope, I pray, Kodak understands the power of what they're doing and advertises it as such. If the audience sits down and there isn't anything to label what they're seeing as special, umm... what's the point?

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The DMR tag probably refers to the digital release, not the film release.

 

I've been blessed to see some amazing film prints, even recently with Warners release of many films on 5/70. The Wonder Woman print was stellar, absolutely amazing and a world of difference from digital projection... even though it was a laser out to film. I love seeing a good print, it just makes me all giddy because it's rare these days.

 

I don't know how many beans I can spill about what's happening, but suffice to say, there are going to be A LOT of 5/70 prints of Dunkirk made. Rumors are that it will be the biggest roll out since Hateful Eight and that's a small clue into what Kodak are doing. I'm slightly miffed that Warner Brothers didn't allow Nolan to do a pre-release of the movie a week ahead on film. That really kills me because he can seemingly do anything he wants, but when it comes down to it, without purposely forcing the movie onto people projected on film, the vast majority of viewers won't see a film print. The whole point in my opinion is to release it on film early and force people who want to see it, on the correct medium. This is really the holy grail to keep film prints being shown. If you can make them "special" in some way... maybe a longer version, maybe an early release, anything to make it unique to the average audience, it will FORCE them to understand what the difference is.

 

I hope, I pray, Kodak understands the power of what they're doing and advertises it as such. If the audience sits down and there isn't anything to label what they're seeing as special, umm... what's the point?

Yes agree totally. I'm of the generation that had to wait 4 or 5 years for Dr. Zhivago to be released from London 70mm cinemas. That policy too forced us to go and see the actual experience as David Lean intended. And I'm sure that memory will stay with people all their lives. Also the early ones would have told their friends and relatives to see the film, so generating more ticket sales.

The same should happen with Imax features, no not 5 years ! but at least they must be seen in 15/70 as the director intended, for a substantial period before general release. This in turn would create greater interest giving others the chance to experience them that way as well.

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DMR isn't needed for this release, (or any release today), because its already scanned off film in high rez. DMR is only needed when doing film outs on 15/70 from scanned images off film or lower rez digital to begin with. Its totally not needed today because digital is already high rez enough, and shown in low rez 2K or 4K theaters, so up-rezzing is useless since its not shown in 70mm regardless. They just use the DMR tag today because it makes it sound good, even if irrelevant now.

 

As far as the release shown early on film, they did plan on doing this with Dunkirk, but because making the 70mm prints is taking so much time, they needed those extra 2 days to make the prints. Hence everything being shown on Friday, digital and film.

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DMR is still used for any smaller film formats being enlarged to IMAX -- it's not a matter of how high the scanning resolution is (some DMR projects like for "Batman Begins" were scanned at 6K, others have to work with 2K or 4K D.I. masters given to them as a starting point).

 

The reason for DMR is that the grain of smaller formats is considered distracting on a true IMAX-sized screen, so essentially the film scan image is de-grained and then re-sharpened. Doesn't matter if it is a 6K scan or not. For digitally-shot movies, it is less essential (Roger Deakins rejected the DMR process for the IMAX version of "Skyfall") because of the lack of film grain.

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As a film student in the late 70's I got to see a lot of 70mm film in a school sponsored trip to Hollywood. (Patton, Paint Your Wagon, Airport [#1] etc). I love the film medium!! That being said, I also love digital because the medium does not have film damage - scratches, oil deposits, paper punch cue marks thru 8 to ten frames, etc. I was dissappointed with "Hateful Eight" in 70/5 because the brand new print had green lines down the right side of the film for quite a few minutes. That would be a quality control issue but the film damage is due to poor film handling at the theatre.

I worked as a projectionist while going to college and for another 2 years afterwards. I saw some pretty badly mutilated prints coming from supposedly FIRST RUN houses. So that is why I cheer for digital - the guy in the booth can't damage the print.

All of that said, I still search out 70mm releases as long as I know they are on a truly big screen. 70/5 or 70/15 on a 50 foot multiplex screen is just a waste of my time!

CHEERS and CUDOS to Christopher Nolan and anyone else that keeps film alive with TRUE ROADSHOW QUALITY films and presentation. The one thing about the Imax Projector is the use of the rolling gate and a smooth film handling chain that reduces the amount of film deterioration. The MN Zoo Imax owns some 70mm15perf prints that have had many showings but still look very good.

So by all means search out film presentations but for the run of the mill Hollywood product give me a digital print every time.

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As far as the release shown early on film, they did plan on doing this with Dunkirk, but because making the 70mm prints is taking so much time, they needed those extra 2 days to make the prints. Hence everything being shown on Friday, digital and film.

2 days? More like 2 months! It takes A LONG TIME to make prints these days, now that all the high speed duplicators are gone. 70mm prints have always taken longer anyway because I don't believe there was ever one of those strings made for that format.

 

Fotokem was conforming 5/70 and 15/70 reels 2 months ago, so most likely the prints are piling up right now and will slowly start shipping over the next few weeks. Theaters generally have prints nearly a week in advance to build them up and run a test screening.

 

So opening in select cities a week early on film, wouldn't be TOO much of an issue at this point. They may still do something special, it's still too early.

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I saw some pretty badly mutilated prints coming from supposedly FIRST RUN houses.

Absolutely. I saw a print of The Force Awakens, a week after it was originally release and it was completely destroyed. Looked like the film fell off the platter and then dragged on the floor.

 

There is NO excuse for film print damage, the only reason it happens is human negligence. It's frustrating to me because there wasn't a "problem" and all digital does is take away the human. It's not better quality, in most cases it's less resolution with a more compressed color space. The whole point of going to the cinema is to see something you can't at home and with digital projection it's nearly identical to what's available for home cinema. UHD BluRay is HDR, 10 bit 4:2:2 color space with pretty decent resolution. Match that with an UHD HDR display device, now you have no reason (quality wise) to visit a theater. The moment 4k laser projectors drop in price, I'll have one and I can blow it up on my 13ft wide wall, so "screen" size is irrelevant. So yea... this is why "film" is so important because it's an 'experience' you can't take home.

 

The one thing about the Imax Projector is the use of the rolling gate and a smooth film handling chain that reduces the amount of film deterioration. The MN Zoo Imax owns some 70mm15perf prints that have had many showings but still look very good.

The final generation rolling loop 3D projectors that MOST IMAX theaters had before the switch to digital are amazing machines. They do "touch" the film a lot more then conventional projectors do, but because they were made to pretty high tolerances and use high pressure air (vacuum) to hold the film in place, they're actually more gentile on film then conventional vertical 5/70 projectors. They also have pin registration, which is pretty amazing and the only time I'm aware of it actually being used for a theatrical projection system. Another thing to take into account is most standard 35mm projectors in theaters were decades old. The final iteration of projectors from Christies and Kinoton, were really nice and stable machines. It's just, very few theaters switched over and many that did, found themselves regretting it as digital pushed them to the sidelines. I actually dig the Kinoton's quite a bit, they have the best registration I've ever seen on non-IMAX film projection, even on 16mm mode. The 35/70 machine is outstanding for 70mm presentations, using huge plastic guide rails to help keep the film in perfect registration and tension during the pulldown/exposure process. They also have electronic shutters which allow the projector to run at variable speeds, which means at normal speed, they self calibrate and have zero flicker. Arclight Hollywood has two Kinton's, one in the Dome and one in theater 6. Outside of hollywood, I bet they're hard to find because they really weren't designed for theaters, they were designed for post houses.

 

So by all means search out film presentations but for the run of the mill Hollywood product give me a digital print every time.

I mean there ain't much reason to visit a cinema for digital projection unless you MUST SEE first run content.

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There is NO excuse for film print damage, the only reason it happens is human negligence. It's frustrating to me because there wasn't a "problem" and all digital does is take away the human. It's not better quality, in most cases it's less resolution with a more compressed color space. The whole point of going to the cinema is to see something you can't at home and with digital projection it's nearly identical to what's available for home cinema. UHD BluRay is HDR, 10 bit 4:2:2 color space with pretty decent resolution. Match that with an UHD HDR display device, now you have no reason (quality wise) to visit a theater. The moment 4k laser projectors drop in price, I'll have one and I can blow it up on my 13ft wide wall, so "screen" size is irrelevant. So yea... this is why "film" is so important because it's an 'experience' you can't take home.


I mean there ain't much reason to visit a cinema for digital projection unless you MUST SEE first run content.

 

Aren't DCP's bigger than 4KBD's, filesize wise?

 

Also, is HDR and 10 bit color the same thing? I've been wondering that.

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Aren't DCP's bigger than 4KBD's, filesize wise?

Sure, DCP's are JPEG2000 files, but they're usually made from a 10 bit master, even though the container can be 12 bit.

 

They're also a wider color space capable, but very few people put anything else but 444 DCI-P3 color space in them.

 

UHD BluRay (h265) can do 10 and 12 bit, 4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4 color space. So it really depends on the disk and the processing they choose at the post house.

 

I'm under the impression that HDR UHD BluRay's will be 12 bit 444, but I'm not 100% sure and there really isn't any way to test.

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Yes, I agree. My home theatre includes a 40" Sony XBR tube TV for Classic Films (especially B&W) and a 48" Sony 16x9 for live TV and Blu Ray. I own at least 1,200 films on DVD & Blu so, no I don't go out to movies as much as I used to. But I always search out these special presentations.

 

I should point out that I last worked as a projectionist in 1974. Since then I have tried to visit "the booth" when I can, but automation means there is seldom anyone there. One family owned multiplex I did visit went out of their way to maintain film quality by installing humidifiers to "mist the booth". They also HAD a system to run one print in two or more screens using a back and forth roller system and guides running down the wall to the next projector. Very fascinating and must have been fun to thread!! But those days are now gone.

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HDR and 10 bit are not the same thing. 10 bit describes the amount of memory needed for a single color component of a pixel and also relates to the number of possible values, in the case of 10 bit 1024 values per red, green and blue channels. A 8 bit image only allows for 256 values per channel. Dynamic range is the difference between the brightest and darkest values captured in the image. It is possible to store a high dynamic range image in a 1 bit file and a low dynamic range image in a 32bit file. Generally higher bit depths are used to store higher dynamic range images as they allow for more gradations in the color better capturing the value changes in the image.

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I should point out that I last worked as a projectionist in 1974. Since then I have tried to visit "the booth" when I can, but automation means there is seldom anyone there. One family owned multiplex I did visit went out of their way to maintain film quality by installing humidifiers to "mist the booth". They also HAD a system to run one print in two or more screens using a back and forth roller system and guides running down the wall to the next projector. Very fascinating and must have been fun to thread!! But those days are now gone.

I'm a bit on the young side, so where I do recall seeing movies as a child with change over's, the industry moved over to platters not long after.

 

Some projectionists hate platters, others love them. I think the key to making a platter system work is the room and roller cleanliness. When the film has to travel a long distance, it's really susceptible to dust and dirty rollers just compound the issue.

 

Today, I see a lot of theaters running cleaning rollers as the film goes down into the projection head. I think this practice is good, if you keep the rollers clean. The IMAX guys have a bunch of rollers on stand by and switch them out per showing. I think that's the way to do things properly, but it's hard to implement and it's more labor.

 

Modern 35/70 projectors are pretty easy to thread and operate, they don't require much labor at all. A quick cleaning of the gate between shows is all that's "needed". Some of them don't even require re-focusing after each re-thread. Simply swing the lens assembly away and snap it back into position afterwards. So truthfully, one projectionist could run a multiplex pretty easily.

 

I've been blessed to spend quite a bit of time in projection booths. Someday I will want to work as a part time projectionist at an art house or something when I get older, it's on the agenda. I recall a few short years ago, during the downfall of film, going to a multiplex that was still primarily film and hanging out with the projectionist for an evening. It was a very cool experience, the projection room maze was quite fascinating and she did the rounds, monitoring each and every show as the night went on. They timed out the changes perfectly, so she wouldn't be stressed and she always watched each show start to insure it was working. I saw the finished result and it was a clean, crisp, bright picture in every theater, it was quite amazing actually. She talked about digital and how bored she will be in the future, at least the film projection gave her something to think about. But 13 screens and one projectionist... yea, it was a constant job to deal with and I'm happy to have seen it before the whole industry disappeared. Today, I rarely see movies presented in digital, I only go if I'm watching a print. Hearing the projector start up is the sound of my childhood, it reminds me why I moved to Hollywood.

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My favorite theatre was the Ellen in Bozeman, MT where I went to MSU for film & TV. I was lucky enough to arrive just 2 years before the long time manager retired. He was 80 years old and played the pipe organ almost every day. His rendition of "Chatanooga Choo Choo" included all the chuffing and bells and wistles of a steam engine leaving the station. He insisted on maximum "showmanship". The changeover from Cartoon reel with previews to the main feature included checkerboard traveler close, footlights up projector 2 and lamp start, CHANGEOVER, curtain open, footlights down, check focus, projector 1 off, and lamp off. All of that in 15 seconds. After a few weeks I was able to get er done. The next summer he made me head projectionist for two theatres and a Drive In (The Starlight) now long gone. I forgot about the main drape, a gold waterfall which was light with yellow footlights. Show start was house lights out, waterfall up change to blue and yellow foots for the green & white checkerboard, start projector open dowser, checkerboard open, foots down, and the show is on.

 

I LOVED DOING THAT. It was a real thrill when the timings were all just right. "SHOWMANSHIP"

 

Two of the theatres had Motiograph projectors that I just loved. If threaded properly the had very little intermittent noise. The trick was to get the top and bottom loops just right. One sprocket hole either way and the racket commenced. They also had more room in the head for fat hands, not that mine were fat, it was just easier to thread. It was also to do a very fast rethread after a film break, although I luckily had very few of them.

 

Sorry if I ramble on and on, I just love sharing with a younger generation.

Edited by John Poore
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ALBERTA

Scotiabank Chinook 16 IMAX (Calgary)

Scotiabank IMAX (Edmonton)

 

ALABAMA

IMAX Dome Theater (Birmingham)

US Space Center IMAX (Huntsville)

 

ARIZONA

AMC Westgate (Glendale)

Grand Canyon IMAX (Grand Canyon Village)

Harkins Tempe Marketplace (Tempe)

Loft (Tuscon)

 

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Cineplex Colossus IMAX (Langley)

Cineplex Park (Vancouver)

 

CALIFORNIA

AMC Burbank 16 (Burbank)

Century Daly City (Daly City)

Regal Hacienda 20 IMAX (Dublin)

ArcLight Hollywood (Hollywood)

Regal Irvine Spectrum IMAX (Irvine)

ArcLight 14 (La Jolla)

Grossmont Center 10 (La Messa)

Regal Long Beach Stadium (Long Beach)

Cinemark 18 (Los Angeles)

Landmark 12 (Los Angeles)

Regal Ontario Palace 22 IMAX (Ontario)

Sagewood Camelot (Palm Springs)

Esquire IMAX (Sacramento)

Tower Theatre (Sacramento)

AMC Mission Valley (San Diego)

AMC Metreon IMAX (San Francisco)

Cinemark San Francisco Center (San Francisco)

Century Oakridge (San Jose)

Hackworth IMAX (San Jose)

AMC Mercado (Santa Clara)

ArcLight Sherman Oaks (Sherman Oaks)

AMC Del Amo 18 (Torrance)

Cinemark Union City 25 (Union City)

AMC Citywalk IMAX (Universal City)

 

COLORADO

Regal Contiental (Westminster)

AMC Westminster 24 (Vancouver)

 

WASHINGTON D.C.

Regal Gallery Palace Stadium 24 (D.C.)

 

FLORIDA

Cinemark Palace (Boca Raton)

Coral Gables Art Cinema 1 (Coral Gables)

AMC Disney Springs 24 (Lake Buena Vista)

AMC Aventura (Miami)

Regal Waterford Lakes (Orlando)

AMC Veterans (Tampa)

AMC Parisian (West Palm Beach)

 

GEORGIA

Regal Atlantic Station (Atlanta)

Regal Mall of Georgia 20 (Buford)

 

IOWA

Sci Dome IMAX (Des Moines)

 

ILLINOIS

River East 21 (Chicago)

Keresotes Showplace Icon (Chicago)

Music Box (Chicago)

Cinemark Evanston (Evanston)

 

INDIANA

White River IMAX (Indianapolis)

 

KANSAS

AMC Town Center (Leawood)

 

LOUISIANA

AMC Elmwood Palace (New Orleans)

 

MASSACHUSETTS

AMC Boston Common (Boston)

Coolidge Corner 2 (Brookline)

Somerville 5 (Somerville)

 

MARYLAND

AFI Silver 3 Theatre (Silver Springs)

AMC White Marsh (Baltimore)

Cinemark Egyptian (Baltimore)

Maryland Science Center IMAX (Baltimore)

 

MICHIGAN

AMC Livonia (Livonia)

AMC Forum 30 (Sterling Heights)

 

MISSOURI

OMNIMAX (St. Louis)

Marcus Ronnies (St. Louis)

 

NORTH CAROLINA

Discovery Place IMAX (Charlotte)

Regal Stonecrest (Charlotte)

AMC Southpoint (Durham)

 

NEW JERSEY

AMC Cherry Hill (Cherry Hill)

AMC Hamilton 24 (Hamilton)

AMC Garden State (Peramus)

 

NEW MEXICO

Cinemark Rio 24 (Albuquerque)

 

NEVADA

AMC Town Sqaure (Las Vegas)

 

NEW YORK

Alamo Drafthouse Downtown Brooklyn (Brooklyn)

Farmingdale 14 (Farmingdale)

Regal New Roc City (New Rochelle)

AMC Lincoln Square IMAX (New York)

City Cinemas East 86th St. (New York)

Cinema 1,2,3 (New York)

Village East 7 (New York)

Regal E-Walk Stadim (New York)

 

OHIO

Gateway Film Center 7 (Columbus)

Cinemark Valley View (Valley View)

 

ONTARIO

Cineplex Coliseum IMAX (Mississauga)

Cineplex Varsity 12 (Toronto)

Cineplex Colossus IMAX (Woodbridge)

 

OREGON

Hollywood 3 (Portland)

Regal Bridgeport (Tigard)

 

PENNSYLVANIA

AMC Neshaminy 24 (Bensalem)

Regal King of Prussia 15 IMAX (King of Prussia)

Tuttleman IMAX (Philadelphia)

AMC Waterfront (West Homestead)

 

NEWFOUNDLAND

Cineplex Banque Scotia 12 (Montreal)

 

RHODE ISLAND

Providence Place IMAX (Providence)

 

SASKATCHEWAN

Regina IMAX (Las Vegas)

 

TENNESSEE

AMC Thoroughbred (Franklin)

Regal Pinnacle Stadium (Knoxville)

Regal Opry Mills 20 IMAX (Nashville)

 

TEXAS

Studio Movie Grill 9 (Arlington)

Alamo Drafthouse Ritz (Austin)

AMC Northpark 15 (Dallas)

Look 11 (Dallas)

Studio Movie Grill Royal Lane 9

Cinemark 17 IMAX (Dallas)

OmniaMAX Fort Worth (Fort Worth)

AMC Gulf Pointe (Houston)

Regal Edwards Freenway Grand Palace (Houston)

Cinemark Tinseltown (Pflugerville)

Cinemark West Plano (Plano)

Santikos Palladium 19 (San Antonio)

 

VIRGINA

AMC Hoffman Center (Alexandria)

AMC Tyson’s Corner (McLean)

 

WASHINTON

AMC Pacific Place 11 (Seattle)

Cinerama (Seattle)

 

WISCONSIN

Marcus Majestic Cinema of Brookfield (Waukesha)

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I'm in NYC now -- I wonder if any theater is going to re-install a 15-perf 70mm projector? The AMC Lincoln Square IMAX got rid of theirs sometime after "Dark Knight Returns" so that just left the science museums with film IMAX projectors in the area. All of the ones on that list for New York are digital IMAX screens.

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Minnesota is not listed but I just purchased a ticket for the first showing at 7PM July 20th at the MN Zoo Imax theatre. See attachment.Minneapolis has a lot to see and do. Why not make it a weekend. The Zoo is just a few minutes south of the airport and Mall of America.

post-72786-0-47107000-1499382435_thumb.jpg

Edited by John Poore
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I'm in NYC now -- I wonder if any theater is going to re-install a 15-perf 70mm projector? The AMC Lincoln Square IMAX got rid of theirs sometime after "Dark Knight Returns" so that just left the science museums with film IMAX projectors in the area. All of the ones on that list for New York are digital IMAX screens.

Warner is rolling out film projectors for this release. The list above is all 70mm film projection, some 15/70 and some 5/70. Unfortunately, there isn't a list that separates the two formats.

 

There are going to be 125 prints made of various 70mm formats.

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