The Landmark and Lincoln Square will have some overlap on the film’s they play, as tickets for Mother! are on sale for both locations (when you consider how far west the Landmark is, they are probably over a mile away from each other, so it’s not too much for them to play the same film in my opinion).
Also, while Dunkirk has now completed its IMAX run, AMC actually brought back the regular 70mm print on the Loews screen for Labor day weekend.
Al Alvarez- thanks to the laser system, now every film fills the screen at least left to right, and it can be completely filled top and bottom with a 1.43 title.
Alpinedownhiller- I did see Dunkirk in IMAX laser in the Reading, MA IMAX just last week (to see it a second time after first seeing it in regular 70mm in NYC), and had been there once before for the first Amazing Spider-Man on 15/70 film. And the screen isn’t quite as big as Lincoln Square or San Fran (I believe it is 86 feet wide, but not sure on that), but its definitely one of the more impressive IMAXes I’ve seen. And seeing the 1.43 footage in Dunkirk there was pretty breathtaking (I also thought the regular 70mm footage, while obviously not as impressive, looked a bit better there than on 70mm film projection).
The Chinese theater has the most seats, but for screen size it is not the largest. I believe Lincoln, Metreon, and BFI in London are all tied as the second biggest IMAXes, with Melbourne having the largest IMAX and movie screen in the world (Sydney, Australia used to have the biggest screen, but that theater has closed).
I saw Dunkirk in 70mm here today, probably near a sell out (I booked tickets about an hour and a half prior to showtime, and had to go to the third row to get two seats together).
I think their Kong: Skull Island presentation felt more special with a bit of showmanship (that had no trailers but instead a mini overture with the masking opening up at the Warner Bros logo, here there were two digital trailers, then a slight delay as they switched to film and expanded the masking to 2.20 for the Blade Runner and Justice League trailers on 70mm), and I also felt Kong maybe looked a slight bit more visually impressive in 70mm. But this is a place which can do 70mm right, and for placing the audience in the shoes of the characters and creating some tension filled set pieces, Dunkirk is pretty masterful.
Actually, with the film presentations I wouldn’t be surprised if there are no trailers. Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar didn’t put any in with their IMAX 15/70 presentations nor are there likely to be 15/70 trailers available, and with the regular 70mm showings, only Murder on the Orient Express seems like an obvious title to package in.
I saw A Ghost Story tonight on the main floor, no AC problem (as I expected by now).
It’s another title with a weird aspect ratio, looks to me like it might be the old academy ratio, but there also are these curved edges on all four sides- perhaps to mimic the look of an old photograph. It was in a flat DCP definitely though, and they properly set the side masking to flat, with the pre-show filling the masked screen and pillarboxing for the main feature (which I imagine is how it is going to be played outside of film festivals and special venues).
From what it sounds like the AC issue was in one floor, and I’d have to imagine it would be fixed no later than a couple days (maybe even later that day), otherwise it would cripple business in the Summer.
I have seen theaters post signs when AC isn’t working and said guests can request a refund if they got tickets or decide they can’t watch the movie (often it will be in one screen rather than the entire complex). And the one time I was planning to see a movie where AC wasn’t working, they said I could sit in the theater for five minutes before buying a ticket and see if it was okay (think this was the Beekman), and when I started to sweat after about two minutes, knew it wouldn’t work.
Yes, they are bringing back the film projectors for the IMAX (not sure how hard it was to do here, but in IMAX Melbourne they said it took two weeks- no doubt to please Nolan). To me the one disappointment is apparently they can’t sync 15/70 prints with the new 12 channel sound system (that sounded amazing for the prologue) and will use the old sound system, though the Empire IMAX should be an option if one needs the 12 channel sound mix.
In addition to the already known IMAX 15/70 print, this theater will also play Dunkirk in standard format 5/70 film (I do see other places look set to be both 5/70 and IMAX digital, but two 70mm prints seems to be very rare). The other 70mm NYC locations I see so far from Fandango or the theaters themselves are City Cinemas East 86, and Cinema 1,2,3, and Regal E-Walk
I’ve seen Cinema 1 use proper masking for scope, flat, and even 2.20, and pretty sure the other screens have masking also. FWIW, AMC and Regal in Manhattan mostly use masking between flat and scope at least.
The most notable exception I’ve found is that AMC Kips Bay has abandoned masking, and its IMAX screen (which never had masking but played Riddick for example in pillarboxed 1.9) has just decided to use constant scope and always fill the screen. Which works great for most films that play there (may even be beneficial for the new Transformers where the constant AR switches even between shots in dialogue conversations has been criticized) but certainly leads to awkward framing in some films like Inferno and Secret Life of Pets.
That A/C is a significant problem, no doubt they will fix it, but I imagine in the Summer a lot of people will just request refunds instead of sitting through that.
I think The Beguiled will be pillarboxed pretty much everywhere. Very few theaters can probably adjust for 1.66, and I’m guessing it’s a flat DCP with the bars built in (that’s how it was presented at the Angelika as well). Unusual aspect ratio movies like that, La La Land, and The Hateful Eight I expect not to be fully masked, but theaters should be able to adjust between flat and scope, and the times they mess that up is what bugs me.
There are, and I see matinee screenings for both Sunday and Tuesday for The Mummy on Fandango. A lot of test screenings, press screenings, and even some premieres are held here, so always possible showings are moved around to accommodate those.
It was the Dunkirk prologue (I saw Wonder Woman here as well), the same as with Rogue One.
But I was more impressed this time, as with Rogue One it played first and a lot people were still getting into seats (partly due to crowd control as they only started letting people in less than ten minutes before) which was a bit distracting, but here it played in the middle of the trailers, and with the extra focus I could really notice the IMAX 12 Channel sound mix which was great.
The only update I can see as for a possible timetable for a closing is in the 2016 financial reports from Reading International (the parent company) published in March 2017.
They mention redevelopment of the Cinemas 1,2,3 property (along with a few other properties) as part of their “Three Year Business Strategy”, though no target date for when in those three years the redevelopment will be completed or specific details about closing the theater.
Also, as expected, this theater is scheduled to get Dunkirk in 70mm and has a listing for that on their website. I kinda figured the recent 70mm releases from WB were about keeping that format alive and finding use for the projectors before the release of Dunkirk.
What I hope is that they or other studios (Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express seems like an obvious choice as it was shot on 65mm film) will keep it up after Dunkirk. A lot depends on box office no doubt, but after the Ziegfeld’s closing, seems as if this is the go to theater for first run 70mm in NYC (and indeed this could possibly be in danger of closing as well).
I can confirm from just the last couple years that Cinema 1 has masking and can adjust at least between 1.85, 2.20, and 2.35 (I believe it can even be properly set up for 2.76 as Hateful Eight did NYC press screenings here, though it didn’t play commercially).
I believe it is natively a scope screen, and with Kong: Skull Island they had the pre-show in 1.85, before a short overture, and opening the masking up to the 2.20 70mm feature as the overture ended; though with the 2.00 title Cafe Society it was presented from a 1.85 DCP with just a tiny bit of letterboxing.
I think a lot of people associate 70mm with IMAX where the screens were typically 80 feet wide or more, but they aren’t directly related (there is a 70mm IMAX format, but it’s different from regular 70mm film).
Yeah, ideally you would see a 70mm presentation on a bigger screen, but that isn’t always the case (for instance I saw Hateful Eight 70mm on a pretty small screen). At least Cinema 1 is the largest screen in this theater and bigger than an average multiplex screen, plus it has proper masking set up for 2.20 70mm ratio.
I’d also note Wonder Woman wasn’t shot in 70mm but rather 35mm, so the print is a blow up (similarly Kong and Fantastic Beasts also played here recently as blow ups from digitally shot movies), though you should still get better quality than other formats except perhaps IMAX.
It is purely optional though, you can go to Kips Bay and just see a movie, just do the VR, or both. The VR experiences have their own listing on the theater’s webpage.
The price is indeed high (looks like it is about half the price of an IMAX film for 10-12 minute experiences, and as far as I know there is no discount with pairing it with an IMAX or regular movie admission), and personally based on my bit of experience with VR headsets I find they get uncomfortable or dizzying after not too long (probably why the experiences are the length they are). But there are people I know who are very big on VR, and I’m always interested in seeing what IMAX as a company comes up with, so I don’t see why not to check it out at least once when I’m next there for a movie.
This is the location IMAX/AMC have chosen for their VR center in NYC, and the IMAX VR opens today, May 26 (I believe making it the second one of these in the U.S.)
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 5 in IMAX here tonight, and can confirm they installed the new 12 channel sound system. In fact, if you look at the ceiling, you can see the additional speakers with the IMAX logo on them.
In this movie, the overheads were only really used in a few scenes, but was very impressed when they were utilized. And overall from tonight and IMAX laser screenings, I feel this new IMAX sound system can compete with any other sound format I’ve come across.
Also, as previously noted the seats/interior design were improved, and I think the sightlines were as well (in a film like Pirates which uses the full IMAX screen, I remember sometimes the very bottom of the picture would be blocked a bit by the head of someone from the first row before). With the knowledge and expectation that the projector and screen size weren’t changing, I was pretty impressed by the renovation otherwise.
The size I’ve found online for the IMAX screen is 58 feet by 28 feet, which would mean a 2.07 aspect ratio. It probably was chosen to maximize screen size available in the auditorium, and it actually works better for scope films, but I’d already noticed 1.9 titles seemed slightly cropped here (the size isn’t available online from what I can tell, but I think Kips Bay IMAX is also wider than 1.9, and only Penn Station uses that ratio).
The RPX screen is listed as 60 feet wide, not sure of the height but believe it is slightly bigger than this IMAX overall, though pretty sure this IMAX is still larger than the Dolby Cinema and the standard screens in both Times Square theaters.
Glad to hear that the sound system was updated, as I really like that system and it closes the audio advantage of the Dolby Cinema with Atmos, though obviously Lincoln Square will remain the city’s premier IMAX location.
I had basically no issues with ghosting or reflections with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Ghost in the Shell, and 3D brightness levels were great- better than 2D footage I saw for the films.
However, with anything here, but particularly 3D, I’d recommend getting seats in the middle of the row and not too close to the screen, and I’m not seeing Guardians in IMAX as it looks like all but the front two rows were sold out when I got tickets last week (with those other two films, they were maybe a quarter full so I could chose an ideal seat location).
The IMAX here has reopened. They are currently mixing in showings of Beauty and the Beast during the day, with the critic’s screenings of Fate of the Furious for NYC being done here in the evening, and then move fully over to featuring Fate of the Furious this weekend.
Does look like the seating has been updated based on Fandango’s charts, not sure how extensive the renovations were overall (I’d guess interior design and sound system overhaul, though probably not IMAX laser in a smaller location yet).
RPX (along with other premium large formats like Dolby Cinema) are something theater chains came up with as alternatives to IMAX, but not the same thing, so they won’t have any IMAX exclusive bonuses such as expanded aspect ratios.
IMAX also does exclusive digital remastering and sound mixes for all the releases in the format, whereas RPX just works off the regular DCP masters/sound mixes I believe (Dolby Cinema though does get exclusive Dolby Vision masters for some titles, but not everything that plays in those theaters).
The Landmark and Lincoln Square will have some overlap on the film’s they play, as tickets for Mother! are on sale for both locations (when you consider how far west the Landmark is, they are probably over a mile away from each other, so it’s not too much for them to play the same film in my opinion).
Also, while Dunkirk has now completed its IMAX run, AMC actually brought back the regular 70mm print on the Loews screen for Labor day weekend.
Al Alvarez- thanks to the laser system, now every film fills the screen at least left to right, and it can be completely filled top and bottom with a 1.43 title.
Alpinedownhiller- I did see Dunkirk in IMAX laser in the Reading, MA IMAX just last week (to see it a second time after first seeing it in regular 70mm in NYC), and had been there once before for the first Amazing Spider-Man on 15/70 film. And the screen isn’t quite as big as Lincoln Square or San Fran (I believe it is 86 feet wide, but not sure on that), but its definitely one of the more impressive IMAXes I’ve seen. And seeing the 1.43 footage in Dunkirk there was pretty breathtaking (I also thought the regular 70mm footage, while obviously not as impressive, looked a bit better there than on 70mm film projection).
The Chinese theater has the most seats, but for screen size it is not the largest. I believe Lincoln, Metreon, and BFI in London are all tied as the second biggest IMAXes, with Melbourne having the largest IMAX and movie screen in the world (Sydney, Australia used to have the biggest screen, but that theater has closed).
I saw Dunkirk in 70mm here today, probably near a sell out (I booked tickets about an hour and a half prior to showtime, and had to go to the third row to get two seats together).
I think their Kong: Skull Island presentation felt more special with a bit of showmanship (that had no trailers but instead a mini overture with the masking opening up at the Warner Bros logo, here there were two digital trailers, then a slight delay as they switched to film and expanded the masking to 2.20 for the Blade Runner and Justice League trailers on 70mm), and I also felt Kong maybe looked a slight bit more visually impressive in 70mm. But this is a place which can do 70mm right, and for placing the audience in the shoes of the characters and creating some tension filled set pieces, Dunkirk is pretty masterful.
Actually, with the film presentations I wouldn’t be surprised if there are no trailers. Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar didn’t put any in with their IMAX 15/70 presentations nor are there likely to be 15/70 trailers available, and with the regular 70mm showings, only Murder on the Orient Express seems like an obvious title to package in.
I saw A Ghost Story tonight on the main floor, no AC problem (as I expected by now).
It’s another title with a weird aspect ratio, looks to me like it might be the old academy ratio, but there also are these curved edges on all four sides- perhaps to mimic the look of an old photograph. It was in a flat DCP definitely though, and they properly set the side masking to flat, with the pre-show filling the masked screen and pillarboxing for the main feature (which I imagine is how it is going to be played outside of film festivals and special venues).
From what it sounds like the AC issue was in one floor, and I’d have to imagine it would be fixed no later than a couple days (maybe even later that day), otherwise it would cripple business in the Summer.
I have seen theaters post signs when AC isn’t working and said guests can request a refund if they got tickets or decide they can’t watch the movie (often it will be in one screen rather than the entire complex). And the one time I was planning to see a movie where AC wasn’t working, they said I could sit in the theater for five minutes before buying a ticket and see if it was okay (think this was the Beekman), and when I started to sweat after about two minutes, knew it wouldn’t work.
Yes, they are bringing back the film projectors for the IMAX (not sure how hard it was to do here, but in IMAX Melbourne they said it took two weeks- no doubt to please Nolan). To me the one disappointment is apparently they can’t sync 15/70 prints with the new 12 channel sound system (that sounded amazing for the prologue) and will use the old sound system, though the Empire IMAX should be an option if one needs the 12 channel sound mix.
In addition to the already known IMAX 15/70 print, this theater will also play Dunkirk in standard format 5/70 film (I do see other places look set to be both 5/70 and IMAX digital, but two 70mm prints seems to be very rare). The other 70mm NYC locations I see so far from Fandango or the theaters themselves are City Cinemas East 86, and Cinema 1,2,3, and Regal E-Walk
I’ve seen Cinema 1 use proper masking for scope, flat, and even 2.20, and pretty sure the other screens have masking also. FWIW, AMC and Regal in Manhattan mostly use masking between flat and scope at least.
The most notable exception I’ve found is that AMC Kips Bay has abandoned masking, and its IMAX screen (which never had masking but played Riddick for example in pillarboxed 1.9) has just decided to use constant scope and always fill the screen. Which works great for most films that play there (may even be beneficial for the new Transformers where the constant AR switches even between shots in dialogue conversations has been criticized) but certainly leads to awkward framing in some films like Inferno and Secret Life of Pets.
That A/C is a significant problem, no doubt they will fix it, but I imagine in the Summer a lot of people will just request refunds instead of sitting through that.
I think The Beguiled will be pillarboxed pretty much everywhere. Very few theaters can probably adjust for 1.66, and I’m guessing it’s a flat DCP with the bars built in (that’s how it was presented at the Angelika as well). Unusual aspect ratio movies like that, La La Land, and The Hateful Eight I expect not to be fully masked, but theaters should be able to adjust between flat and scope, and the times they mess that up is what bugs me.
There are, and I see matinee screenings for both Sunday and Tuesday for The Mummy on Fandango. A lot of test screenings, press screenings, and even some premieres are held here, so always possible showings are moved around to accommodate those.
It was the Dunkirk prologue (I saw Wonder Woman here as well), the same as with Rogue One.
But I was more impressed this time, as with Rogue One it played first and a lot people were still getting into seats (partly due to crowd control as they only started letting people in less than ten minutes before) which was a bit distracting, but here it played in the middle of the trailers, and with the extra focus I could really notice the IMAX 12 Channel sound mix which was great.
The only update I can see as for a possible timetable for a closing is in the 2016 financial reports from Reading International (the parent company) published in March 2017.
They mention redevelopment of the Cinemas 1,2,3 property (along with a few other properties) as part of their “Three Year Business Strategy”, though no target date for when in those three years the redevelopment will be completed or specific details about closing the theater.
Also, as expected, this theater is scheduled to get Dunkirk in 70mm and has a listing for that on their website. I kinda figured the recent 70mm releases from WB were about keeping that format alive and finding use for the projectors before the release of Dunkirk.
What I hope is that they or other studios (Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express seems like an obvious choice as it was shot on 65mm film) will keep it up after Dunkirk. A lot depends on box office no doubt, but after the Ziegfeld’s closing, seems as if this is the go to theater for first run 70mm in NYC (and indeed this could possibly be in danger of closing as well).
I can confirm from just the last couple years that Cinema 1 has masking and can adjust at least between 1.85, 2.20, and 2.35 (I believe it can even be properly set up for 2.76 as Hateful Eight did NYC press screenings here, though it didn’t play commercially).
I believe it is natively a scope screen, and with Kong: Skull Island they had the pre-show in 1.85, before a short overture, and opening the masking up to the 2.20 70mm feature as the overture ended; though with the 2.00 title Cafe Society it was presented from a 1.85 DCP with just a tiny bit of letterboxing.
I think a lot of people associate 70mm with IMAX where the screens were typically 80 feet wide or more, but they aren’t directly related (there is a 70mm IMAX format, but it’s different from regular 70mm film).
Yeah, ideally you would see a 70mm presentation on a bigger screen, but that isn’t always the case (for instance I saw Hateful Eight 70mm on a pretty small screen). At least Cinema 1 is the largest screen in this theater and bigger than an average multiplex screen, plus it has proper masking set up for 2.20 70mm ratio.
I’d also note Wonder Woman wasn’t shot in 70mm but rather 35mm, so the print is a blow up (similarly Kong and Fantastic Beasts also played here recently as blow ups from digitally shot movies), though you should still get better quality than other formats except perhaps IMAX.
It is purely optional though, you can go to Kips Bay and just see a movie, just do the VR, or both. The VR experiences have their own listing on the theater’s webpage.
The price is indeed high (looks like it is about half the price of an IMAX film for 10-12 minute experiences, and as far as I know there is no discount with pairing it with an IMAX or regular movie admission), and personally based on my bit of experience with VR headsets I find they get uncomfortable or dizzying after not too long (probably why the experiences are the length they are). But there are people I know who are very big on VR, and I’m always interested in seeing what IMAX as a company comes up with, so I don’t see why not to check it out at least once when I’m next there for a movie.
This is the location IMAX/AMC have chosen for their VR center in NYC, and the IMAX VR opens today, May 26 (I believe making it the second one of these in the U.S.)
I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 5 in IMAX here tonight, and can confirm they installed the new 12 channel sound system. In fact, if you look at the ceiling, you can see the additional speakers with the IMAX logo on them.
In this movie, the overheads were only really used in a few scenes, but was very impressed when they were utilized. And overall from tonight and IMAX laser screenings, I feel this new IMAX sound system can compete with any other sound format I’ve come across.
Also, as previously noted the seats/interior design were improved, and I think the sightlines were as well (in a film like Pirates which uses the full IMAX screen, I remember sometimes the very bottom of the picture would be blocked a bit by the head of someone from the first row before). With the knowledge and expectation that the projector and screen size weren’t changing, I was pretty impressed by the renovation otherwise.
The size I’ve found online for the IMAX screen is 58 feet by 28 feet, which would mean a 2.07 aspect ratio. It probably was chosen to maximize screen size available in the auditorium, and it actually works better for scope films, but I’d already noticed 1.9 titles seemed slightly cropped here (the size isn’t available online from what I can tell, but I think Kips Bay IMAX is also wider than 1.9, and only Penn Station uses that ratio).
The RPX screen is listed as 60 feet wide, not sure of the height but believe it is slightly bigger than this IMAX overall, though pretty sure this IMAX is still larger than the Dolby Cinema and the standard screens in both Times Square theaters.
Glad to hear that the sound system was updated, as I really like that system and it closes the audio advantage of the Dolby Cinema with Atmos, though obviously Lincoln Square will remain the city’s premier IMAX location.
I had basically no issues with ghosting or reflections with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Ghost in the Shell, and 3D brightness levels were great- better than 2D footage I saw for the films.
However, with anything here, but particularly 3D, I’d recommend getting seats in the middle of the row and not too close to the screen, and I’m not seeing Guardians in IMAX as it looks like all but the front two rows were sold out when I got tickets last week (with those other two films, they were maybe a quarter full so I could chose an ideal seat location).
The IMAX here has reopened. They are currently mixing in showings of Beauty and the Beast during the day, with the critic’s screenings of Fate of the Furious for NYC being done here in the evening, and then move fully over to featuring Fate of the Furious this weekend.
Does look like the seating has been updated based on Fandango’s charts, not sure how extensive the renovations were overall (I’d guess interior design and sound system overhaul, though probably not IMAX laser in a smaller location yet).
It may be changing soon, but as of yesterday there is still Loews signage on the marquee.
RPX (along with other premium large formats like Dolby Cinema) are something theater chains came up with as alternatives to IMAX, but not the same thing, so they won’t have any IMAX exclusive bonuses such as expanded aspect ratios.
IMAX also does exclusive digital remastering and sound mixes for all the releases in the format, whereas RPX just works off the regular DCP masters/sound mixes I believe (Dolby Cinema though does get exclusive Dolby Vision masters for some titles, but not everything that plays in those theaters).