Cinemark Fairfax Corner 14 + XD
11900 Palace Way,
Fairfax,
VA
22030
11900 Palace Way,
Fairfax,
VA
22030
3 people
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I was there a week ago for ‘Army of the Dead’ on one of the XD screens, I thought it looked fantastic. My understanding is that the projectors are Barco 4K laser. It’s a shame that Cinemark made the XD screens as Auro3D, they really should be Dolby Atmos, but that’s more of a personal preference.
Cinemark re-modeled this complex in 2017 with reservable recliner seating in all fourteen auditoriums as well as new wall coverings in the largest auditoriums, new carpet throughout, and new screens. This theater is an anomaly in the DC area as most of its screens (10 out of 14) are side-masked, however the new screens Cinemark installed in many auditoriums are slightly taller than 2.39:1, meaning that scope films are slightly letterboxed. Regardless, this is one of the nicest cinemas in the area with some of its largest screens, especially for scope films. Auditoriums 7 and 8 are the largest with capacities of 293 and 278 and also have wider screens that the XD auditoriums (6 and 9, which are taller but narrower and seat 221 and 219). I have also noticed good surround sound quality here, particularly in theater 7. The XD auditoriums are equipped for Auro 11.1 but few films are mixed as such with Dolby Atmos clearly having won the immersive sound battle.
There is also a restaurant/bar area in the lobby, Cinemark’s Studio Eats Bar & Grill. Total seating capacity is 1,960.
The name for this location should be updated to ‘Cinemark Fairfax Corner & XD’. It is no longer branded as a Rave location.
I haven’t been here in awhile, but what’s going on at this theater complex? I thought there were two prior ‘Xtreme’ screens, are they both XD now or has one gone back to just being a standard large screen. Also it seems odd that as of this posting they appear to be only six screens in use – are there upgrades/renovations going on? Cinemark could in my opinion upgrade the seats, make all sound systems to be 7.1. Shame Cinemark sealed the deal with Barco and Auro, the latter being crushed by more movies being mixed and released in Dolby Atmos.
The ‘Rave Xtreme’ auditorium has been rebranded to ‘Cinemark XD’. The theatre is now called “Fairfax Corner 14 and XD”.
so I don’t know where I had read that screen 9 was upgraded to playback Auro 11.1 sound, well, that’s not the case. Went today to see ‘Everest’ / screen #9 and were there side surround height channels? – no… ceiling speakers? … no. In fact only auditorium 6 has the Auro system. There were/are plans to upgrade the system as such, but apparently its still forthcoming. (went over to the Egyptian instead – since ‘Black Mass’ was on screen 6 instead – why not just flip flop the two [shrugs]).
screen 6’s projection system was recently converted to 4K DLP. Screen 9 also can present 4K content.
It makes sense but I didn’t realize that screens 7 and 8 are roughly the same size as the Xtreme auditoriums – 7 can sit a whopping 521 patrons. The only difference is that the screens on 6 and 9 takes up more of the wall. DisneyNature’s ‘Monkey Kingdom’ today looked and sounded (albeit in 5.1) magnificent on Screen 7 – what a treat to see a nature doc on a truly ‘large’ screen
screen 6 and 9 have now been updated to playback Auro 11.1 mixed movies.
screen 6: will be showing ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ in ‘high frame rate’
screen 9 has not been upgraded to playback the film as such.
screen 6 has me worried because when I saw ‘Titanic’ there, the light output was on the low side thus resulting in very little 3D pop and depth. ‘The Bourne Legacy’ on screen 9 though had great detail due to better brightness (unfortunately the movie was rather crappy).
Screen 9 is now the second auditorium to be converted to an “Xtreme” screen
I saw ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (3D) on the RaveXtreme screen today, and … I was impressed. The 1.66 aspect ratio of the movie had a sliver of black borders on the sides, but to have the image take up the large screen was immersive and pleasing. I thought the 3D conversion was much better than the recent ‘Lion King’ The 7.1 soundmix was good but seemed dated (not a fault of the theater’s sound system) Given the number of flaws I’ve noted on AMC Tyson’s ETX screen, both the Cinemark’s Egyptian and Rave’s Barco DLP systems though are just superior in color and light output.
Auditorium 6 got the conversion to feature RaveXtreme with today’s release of ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’
“Rave Cinemas is introducing a new concept in large screen entertainment, raveXtreme. This special BIG SCREEN EXPERIENCE features an enormous wall to wall and floor to ceiling curved silver screen and enhanced digital projection in both 2D and when available, 3D features. Plush seats await you as you also enjoy the enhanced digital sound system with calibrated dynamic range and surround. Presentation and comfort are hallmarks of the Rave movie going experience, and raveXtreme is the next step.”
the surround system is able to decode/present films that are mixed in 7.1
I meant to say that there was an existing page for this venue already on Cinema Treasures because I had made an entry about my experience here but its nowhere to be found. :P This isn’t the first time. Not sure if its a server issue when they migrated to bigger one. No replies were ever received to my queries.
all the National Amusement Theatres in the immediate Virginia/DC area were under that managament, before they were integrated into the Rave Motion Picture chain.
Haven’t been to the theatres in quite some time, but I like the auditoriums/screen size/sound from the four auditoriums just to the left and right of the main concession stands.
Wasn’t this listed under National Amusement? I thought I blogged about my first (and probably last) encounter about their ‘reserved’ seat selection in the Director Halls and the mall-type fast food fare. Nothing exists under the city. I recall seeing the previous Shrek movie, not this summer’s one, the sound and picture were okay, not worth driving into Virginia though. :)
and of this weekend all 14 screens have been upgraded/converted to DLP digital projection.
word is that ALL 14 screens will be converted to digital projection by as early as October of this year (Barco 4K upgradeable)
of the 14 screens only 7 of the screens are DLP equppied, why they ALL aren’t is a mystery. While all auditoriums 6 – 9 have roughly the same screen size: 68 feet in width – they are the largest DLP’s screens in the DC/MD/VA area. Auditorium 7 has it’s problems since the light output of the 3D-DLP unit is set too low, the screen though is comprised of strips so any further illumination reveals this flaw – this however I can confirm is being fixed in the near future with the installation of a new solid screen, so the image can in fact now be set brighter. Unfortunately because the theatre is too close to the Regal, some films don’t get shown at the Cinema because of it’s proximity to one another [case in point, ‘Monsters vs. Aliens 3D’ was only at the Regal (personally, I don’t care for the Regal), on the plus side because of this the Cinema De Lux was the only area theatre to play ‘Battle of Terra’ exclusively in 3D]