There are very few 70mm showings these days. The Academy ran what they called “The Last 70mm Film Festival” last year. The Cinerama theater in Seattle is slated to run a festival with some 70mm this fall, The fact is there are very few theaters in the country that can run 70mm reel to reel and the owners of existing prints will not allow those prints to be run on a platter. The Somerville Theater in Somerville Massachusetts has a screen equipped to run 70mm http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/483 and they are planing a festival sometime in the future. The Egyptian in Hollywood can run 70mm reel to reel do they get big enough crowds to justify running 70mm prints. I attended a showing of a Cinerama film that had been converted to video and the picture was full screen side masking open full and appeared bright and clear.
I went to the Gatsby party at the Cinerama Dome on Thursday and the event was great! Well planned. Here is some video from the party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxeaFpHOJ8w&feature=youtu.be
They are still running tours of the Chinese and expected to get a look at the theater under construction but no. I hope someone is smart enough to get video of all the renovations.
And the record for large screens is still the 1964 New York World’s Fair. New York had some screens that were huge. TODD-AO and 13.6mm carbon arcs on 100 plus foot screen with a bright high rez picture!!!!
Well, I went by there today and a nice gentleman standing in an open exit door told me they were removing all the seats and will be starting demolition of what is left of the stage floor soon. This will open up the space that is now the basement below the stage. From what I understand the bottom of the IMAX screen will be much lower than the current screen. Can they get the brightness and rez to fill it?
Yes I know about zones and how movies are booked into the theaters. I also know that certain studios and certain filmmakers favor certain theaters. Many of the people here seem to think IMAX will make the Chinese profitable again. We will see.
So, they will get all the IMAX movies. If that is the solution then so be it. Clearance model what the hell is a clearance model? I Goggled clearance model. It sounds like something taught in business school. But in real life the goal is to put butts in seats. If IMAX does that then great!
As for the pixilation problem Let’s hope IMAX increases it’s resolution and frame rate, 48+fps and 8K should do it.
I saw a road show print of My Fair Lady 70mm in New York on a 100 plus foot screen and the picture was bright, sharp and clear. I could make out the fibers in the actors cloths. Certainly with today’s technology we can do as good if not better than that.
Besides it is a joke that the largest screen isn’t even in California or New York. Use the 120 foot screen holder that the Chinese has install a 120 foot screen and fill a 120 foot wide screen, be the worlds largest. That would be impressive.
And the base boom channel at the Chinese is lame. At one time there were 16 16" speakers. We had some base boom. I put two 2000 watt amps on those two speaker banks and got some impressive base. I ran a reel of Jurasic Park as a test for someone at Universal and they were speachless. We used to be able to blow out a match with the base channel. Not any more. Showmanship died years ago.
Longislandmovies there is nothing wrong with turning a profit they are just going about it wrong. There is nothing special about an IMAX theater. Is IMAX that big of a draw that it will get a crowd into the Chinese. I hope the IMAX picture is 1:90 at least that is better than 1:34 Last time I went to the Chinese it wasn’t worth the extra expense and trouble. At least at the El Capitan the pre show alone is worth the price of a ticket. I just paid 45 bucks for a ticket to Gatsby at the Dome but that is reserved seat and an event. They will sell out that show and at $45 a head they will make a profit even if it is an open bar. Sad to say but the Chinese isn’t that special any more.
This just looks like a desperate attempt to make the venue profitable again. The overhead is huge; electric and heat are big expenses and the reason why the large houses cost a lot to run. Also they have lost much of their audience. I saw the Hobbit and the place was empty. Back in the 90’s the theater used to fill up all the time. Time will tell but everything they are doing just smacks of desperation. Mann theaters lost their top technical person years ago when Brent Walker died suddenly and things started to go down hill from there. Mann never made full use of the venue they refused to run any revival stuff like the new owners are doing. That is the one idea that at least seems to draw a large crowd.
The Hollywood Highland project was supposed to do wonders for the whole area but still the Theater seems to be losing money year after year. The majority of people just seem to like their neighborhood mutiplex.
The original seats were smaller and spaced closer together. When the theater was built the seats went a lot further back to where the snack bar is now. The newest latest large snack bar takes up the space once used by the Cinemiracle booth. The seats that are installed now are wider and have more leg room than the standard theater seat so there are a lot less seats than there were when the theater first opened.
The Chinese was only remodeled once to put in a larger screen and that was a major renovation for Windjammer. There is a 120 foot screen holder under the 90 foot screen holder that is used now. The IMAX screen will be limited width because of height restrictions. It will be sad to see the Curtains and masking get taken out but that is the trend. If they will only be able to run IMAX films that will limit the films they can show.
IMAX at the Chinese, well that will make the minions who don’t know any better happy. I will not go see a movie shot in 1:85 or 2:35 projected in an aspect ratio of 1:34 besides IMAX is mostly hype. Blowing up a low resolution original only makes it easy to see how bad it really looks. Besides the resolution of video projected IMAX is only 4K at best (they were using two 2K projectors). Looks like they will never be able to match the picture size and quality of Windjammer in Cinemiracle or even Todd-AO. I am told that the new laser light source delivers a picture as bright as carbon arc used to give. So finally the Dome will be the big screen leader in Southern California. If these people were really smart they would install a custom system like the major chains are doing.
The 1958 remodel was needed as the size of the screen was limited to the width of the stage. During the large screen era it was common to have screens that were very large. The original theater (Graumans Chinese) was not designed to run CinemaScope, Todd-AO, etc. So the stage, and most of the proscenium, had to be removed to allow for the newer formats. There is a 120 foot screen holder under the current 90 foot screen holder. That 120 foot screen was for Cinemiracle a process similar to Cinerama using three projectors. The Cinemiracle projectors were replace with Todd-AO projectors. When the Todd-AO projectors were in the lower booth and the light source was a 13.6mm carbon arc a picture could be projected to fill a 100 plus foot wide picture with a 70mm print. That was one of the reasons Star Wars was so popular at the Chinese. Later on when xenon lamphouses were installed the picture size had to be limited because it was hard to get 16 footlamberts with a large picture.
There were colored lights in the ceiling and after the last remodel when the projection booth was moved from downstairs to the original location upstairs the colored ceiling lights were no longer used. They have trouble figuring out that antiquated wiring.
There are very few 70mm showings these days. The Academy ran what they called “The Last 70mm Film Festival” last year. The Cinerama theater in Seattle is slated to run a festival with some 70mm this fall, The fact is there are very few theaters in the country that can run 70mm reel to reel and the owners of existing prints will not allow those prints to be run on a platter. The Somerville Theater in Somerville Massachusetts has a screen equipped to run 70mm http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/483 and they are planing a festival sometime in the future. The Egyptian in Hollywood can run 70mm reel to reel do they get big enough crowds to justify running 70mm prints. I attended a showing of a Cinerama film that had been converted to video and the picture was full screen side masking open full and appeared bright and clear.
Well as an Arclight member I did get excellent service seat selection and feel I have been treated very well.
And I was impressed at the picture quality, bright, clear, the sound was set a little low but the visual was very good.
I went to the Gatsby party at the Cinerama Dome on Thursday and the event was great! Well planned. Here is some video from the party http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxeaFpHOJ8w&feature=youtu.be
They are still running tours of the Chinese and expected to get a look at the theater under construction but no. I hope someone is smart enough to get video of all the renovations.
And the record for large screens is still the 1964 New York World’s Fair. New York had some screens that were huge. TODD-AO and 13.6mm carbon arcs on 100 plus foot screen with a bright high rez picture!!!!
Well, I went by there today and a nice gentleman standing in an open exit door told me they were removing all the seats and will be starting demolition of what is left of the stage floor soon. This will open up the space that is now the basement below the stage. From what I understand the bottom of the IMAX screen will be much lower than the current screen. Can they get the brightness and rez to fill it?
I wonder what Sid’s ghost will think of IMAX. There are many who say the place is haunted.
Chris that link you posted doesn’t work
Yes I know about zones and how movies are booked into the theaters. I also know that certain studios and certain filmmakers favor certain theaters. Many of the people here seem to think IMAX will make the Chinese profitable again. We will see.
Dolby Atmos is a good thing. Definitely better than the standard 5.1 sound.
Then they can run some one weekend wonders like G.I. Joe in IMAX.
Oh and there is spelled their Longislandmovies. There clearance makes even less sense.
So, they will get all the IMAX movies. If that is the solution then so be it. Clearance model what the hell is a clearance model? I Goggled clearance model. It sounds like something taught in business school. But in real life the goal is to put butts in seats. If IMAX does that then great!
As for the pixilation problem Let’s hope IMAX increases it’s resolution and frame rate, 48+fps and 8K should do it.
I saw a road show print of My Fair Lady 70mm in New York on a 100 plus foot screen and the picture was bright, sharp and clear. I could make out the fibers in the actors cloths. Certainly with today’s technology we can do as good if not better than that.
Besides it is a joke that the largest screen isn’t even in California or New York. Use the 120 foot screen holder that the Chinese has install a 120 foot screen and fill a 120 foot wide screen, be the worlds largest. That would be impressive.
And the base boom channel at the Chinese is lame. At one time there were 16 16" speakers. We had some base boom. I put two 2000 watt amps on those two speaker banks and got some impressive base. I ran a reel of Jurasic Park as a test for someone at Universal and they were speachless. We used to be able to blow out a match with the base channel. Not any more. Showmanship died years ago.
Longislandmovies there is nothing wrong with turning a profit they are just going about it wrong. There is nothing special about an IMAX theater. Is IMAX that big of a draw that it will get a crowd into the Chinese. I hope the IMAX picture is 1:90 at least that is better than 1:34 Last time I went to the Chinese it wasn’t worth the extra expense and trouble. At least at the El Capitan the pre show alone is worth the price of a ticket. I just paid 45 bucks for a ticket to Gatsby at the Dome but that is reserved seat and an event. They will sell out that show and at $45 a head they will make a profit even if it is an open bar. Sad to say but the Chinese isn’t that special any more.
This just looks like a desperate attempt to make the venue profitable again. The overhead is huge; electric and heat are big expenses and the reason why the large houses cost a lot to run. Also they have lost much of their audience. I saw the Hobbit and the place was empty. Back in the 90’s the theater used to fill up all the time. Time will tell but everything they are doing just smacks of desperation. Mann theaters lost their top technical person years ago when Brent Walker died suddenly and things started to go down hill from there. Mann never made full use of the venue they refused to run any revival stuff like the new owners are doing. That is the one idea that at least seems to draw a large crowd.
The Hollywood Highland project was supposed to do wonders for the whole area but still the Theater seems to be losing money year after year. The majority of people just seem to like their neighborhood mutiplex.
The original seats were smaller and spaced closer together. When the theater was built the seats went a lot further back to where the snack bar is now. The newest latest large snack bar takes up the space once used by the Cinemiracle booth. The seats that are installed now are wider and have more leg room than the standard theater seat so there are a lot less seats than there were when the theater first opened.
The Chinese was only remodeled once to put in a larger screen and that was a major renovation for Windjammer. There is a 120 foot screen holder under the 90 foot screen holder that is used now. The IMAX screen will be limited width because of height restrictions. It will be sad to see the Curtains and masking get taken out but that is the trend. If they will only be able to run IMAX films that will limit the films they can show.
IMAX at the Chinese, well that will make the minions who don’t know any better happy. I will not go see a movie shot in 1:85 or 2:35 projected in an aspect ratio of 1:34 besides IMAX is mostly hype. Blowing up a low resolution original only makes it easy to see how bad it really looks. Besides the resolution of video projected IMAX is only 4K at best (they were using two 2K projectors). Looks like they will never be able to match the picture size and quality of Windjammer in Cinemiracle or even Todd-AO. I am told that the new laser light source delivers a picture as bright as carbon arc used to give. So finally the Dome will be the big screen leader in Southern California. If these people were really smart they would install a custom system like the major chains are doing.
Now if they can only get the digital to look as good as 65/70mm
So that South Pacific program must be from a road show version of the stage show.
South Pacific didn’t get released until 1958.
The 1958 remodel was needed as the size of the screen was limited to the width of the stage. During the large screen era it was common to have screens that were very large. The original theater (Graumans Chinese) was not designed to run CinemaScope, Todd-AO, etc. So the stage, and most of the proscenium, had to be removed to allow for the newer formats. There is a 120 foot screen holder under the current 90 foot screen holder. That 120 foot screen was for Cinemiracle a process similar to Cinerama using three projectors. The Cinemiracle projectors were replace with Todd-AO projectors. When the Todd-AO projectors were in the lower booth and the light source was a 13.6mm carbon arc a picture could be projected to fill a 100 plus foot wide picture with a 70mm print. That was one of the reasons Star Wars was so popular at the Chinese. Later on when xenon lamphouses were installed the picture size had to be limited because it was hard to get 16 footlamberts with a large picture.
There were colored lights in the ceiling and after the last remodel when the projection booth was moved from downstairs to the original location upstairs the colored ceiling lights were no longer used. They have trouble figuring out that antiquated wiring.
Chris, how much do you wanna wager on the screen size at the Chinese? $$$