Name three films that should have an IMAX upgrade

Star Wars (some one had to say it)

The Empire Strikes Back (see parenthetical for Star Wars)

My third would have been Raiders, instead I will go with Lawrence of Arabia (which also happened to have been filmed on 70mm)

I don't think 65mm films should count, since they are already essentially IMAX sized. That excludes 2001 and LOA.

My vote? Aside from the usual suspects (SW, ROTLA), maybe Apocalypse Now, Superman, Alien, Blade Runner and The Matrix. I guess the format suits "big" popcorn type of movies, or visual ones. Would be an interesting experiment to release something like an Altman film, or something like In the Mood For Love or Hiroshima Mon Amore, something very character based and subtle. Crouching Tiger kind of straddles the line between "big" visual films and subtle character films, could be a best of both worlds kind of thing. The reason I seriously advocate character/art films is because when I saw Blade Runner: Final Cut in a 4K theater presentation in 2007 it was one of the most emotional theater experiences I had, not because of the visuals but the performances; I always thought it was a cold film, but seeing the actors that big, the scene where Deckard tells Rachel she is not human took on a whole new dimension. The acting in that scene: its 100% in the eyes, since the performances are a little (deliberately) stilted, but you only understand that when it's on a HUGE scale, it was incredible. Oh yeah, spoilers. What, you haven't seen Blade Runner?

Or for a joke, 28 Day Later or Tadpole, films shot on late 1990s standard-def consumer-level video cameras (well, they called them "pro-sumer", which is just a marketing term, but they were sold in higher-end electronics/photography stores).

I saw Jurassic Park in IMAX in 1993--I guess it was the first Hollywood feature shown this way, at least in Canada, and it was very, very limited, maybe even this one screening--and everyone should see it this way. Jaws would convert well too.

SilverWook said:

The chances of seeing a 70mm print outside a film IMAX venue is getting slimmer all the time though.

Given the time limitation IMAX used to have, wouldn't JP have been cut down shorter the way Episode II was?

I was going to suggest Plan 9 get some IMAX love. ;)

Some of the better 70's disaster flicks would be awesome too.

At 7 minutes over the 2-hour limit, I doubt my 20-year-later rememberance of my 10-year-old self could remember anything cut out since I only saw it once before. Maybe they just snipped out the credits! Or just blown up the 35mm size to fill the IMAX screen. It didn't completely fill the screen after all.

Star Wars

Empire Strikes Back

Return of the Jedi

(in their original forms)

Part of me wanted to name only 70mm films, because I wouldn't know where else to see them in their original forms. Anyways, now that you mention time limits, that reminds me that the current one for IMAX is 170 minutes, so I'm going to have to pick something other than LoA. How about E.T.

Blade Runner

Star Wars (the original, of course!)

Vertigo (though this is already 70mm and I'm watching it in 70mm this month)

1. Billy and the Cloneasaurus

2. The Bus that Couldn't Slow Down

3. Star Trek XII: So Very Tired

2001: A Space Odyssey (it seems most people agree on this one)

Blade Runner

Lawrence of Arabia

skyjedi2005 said:

Would not any of the HarryHausen Dynamation films look like shit on this format?

Otherwise i would say Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Golden Voyage, Jason and The Argonauts or the clash of the titans.

They look bad enough in 35mm as it is, unfortunately. They would have to go and do a grain-deduction pass or something. I haven't seen any of them on BD (are they on Blu?) but I have about four or five on DVD, and these are remastered from high-quality source material. It's fine for a DVD of an old film, but I doubt anyone would be able to stomache such high levels of grain in the VFX sequences on that large a size.

I have to say though, I'd be all for a cleaned-up Harryhausen IMAX release, purists be damned!

I wonder if they did some clean-up for the BD already...the 70s releases are decent, Eye of the Tiger and stuff like that, but stuff like Jason and the Argonauts and One Million BC look pretty grainy just on DVD. Maybe a lot of it was dirt. The 50s films blend the best IMO because the grain is consistent in the live-action scenes too.