“Premium Large Format” cinema has become an integral part of the film industry with blockbusters depending on screenings in formats like IMAX, Dolby, and 4DX to draw people out to the theater for the biggest, loudest, and craziest moviegoing experiences they’ve ever had. It’s not a new idea — indeed, a recent resurgence in the film camera used to create 1954’s “VistaVision,” used by filmmakers such as Cecil B. DeMille (“The Ten Commandments”), John Ford (“The Searchers”) and Alfred Hitchcock (“Vertigo”) is a testament to the value of using gimmicky cameras and film formats to get butts into cinema seats. Remember 3-D glasses?! Still, I’m here to break down these new formats and tell you if they are worth the $30 ticket price:
IMAX: Worth it. Its 4:3 aspect ratio and the slight curve of this screen allows you to literally see more of the film and be consumed by it. Christopher Nolan popularized this form for Hollywood cinema, and directors and audiences alike have fallen in love with it. Most films are not shot entirely in IMAX, so this means key moments expand to the full, eye-popping aspect ratio like Tom Cruise stepping onto the edge of the Burj Kalifa in “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” or when Sammie starts belting an earth shattering tune in this past spring’s “Sinners.: When used correctly, this format has given me full body chills and I absolutely understand how 23% of F1: The Movie’s domestic opening weekend was just from IMAX screens.
Dolby: Not worth it. With colors so vivid that the theater used to have to tell you that “yes, the projector is still on” and rolling sound, Dolby is the format for perfectionists, which is why James Cameron mixes the “Avatar” films’ color, sound, and 3D in it. However, I can’t endorse it as much as Jim. The seats only half recline, leaving you in anuncomfortable middle ground. The eye popping color doesn’t feel all that special when Dolby’s pre-show isn’t showing you the contrast between its projection and a standard theater’s. The rolling sound mostly just shakes the seat instead of subsuming you. Let’s just say there is a reason people rushed to see “Avatar: The Way of Water” in IMAX 3D instead of the format the director mixed it in.
4DX: So worth it. Martin Scorsese once described Marvel movies as theme park attractions. Seeing a film in 4DX is like riding a theme park attraction. The seats shake, water sprays at you, fans simulate wind and high speeds, air puffers on the headrest shoot air like gun shots. This is all before I tell you about my beloved leg-tickler, a plastic tube that whips your legs like a snake speeding through the desert. It’s less watching a movie, and more having the time of your life. It isn’t just fun, but genuinely immersive as I felt like I was on the boat in “Godzilla: Minus One” and pulling g-forces in “Top Gun: Maverick.” This is my favorite way to see a movie.
ScreenX: So Not Worth It. The way IMAX expands vertically, this format expands horizontally to give a viewer a VR-type experience. There are three screens in the theater. Your typical center one, and then one on either side. However, the problem is that the “screens” on either side are just walls. That means it includes all the accoutrements of being a wall like lit exit signs. The three projectors also can’t be housed in a booth like a regular theater. They are affixed to the ceiling meaning the light from it draws your eye. It’s a baffling and terrible way to watch a movie.
Getting audiences to the theater is a harder and harder task nowadays, and “Premium Large Format” is a huge draw. The industry relies on it to bolster its blockbusters grosses, and for IMAX and 4DX, it is absolutely worth the inflated ticket price. For Dolby and ScreenX… not so much. Of course, I’d settle for good writing and well-cast actors, great directing, and you know…the things that made movies worth watching in the early 1970s. But I’m a realist. Pass the popcorn?
