Fang Zei

The digital "liemax" theaters use dual 2k projectors and have a 1.9:1 aspect ratio (real imax is 1.44:1). The biggest of the digital imax screens still aren't as big as the 15/70 screens, even if you're just talking about the width. What Imax did was to take the biggest auditorium at a multiplex and renovate it to make the screen go from wall to wall (which it was almost doing anyway) and floor to ceiling. They also removed the first several rows of seats to make the screen closer to the audience.

I'm not sure how the 2k+2k overlap works for 2d movies, but imax argues that it yields an image greater than 4k. In any event, you're still seeing the dmr'd version of the movie, which is supposed to make everything look better whether it's on actual 15/70 film or dual 2k dlp.

For movies that were shot in actual 65mm imax, like Ghost Protocol, I can only imagine that the effect is greatly diminished in the digital theaters. Smaller screen, lower resolution, cropped aspect ratio, and multiplex seating are all pretty far removed from the genuine article.

Star Trek Into Darkness was the first time a movie had been shot in imax and then converted into 3d. Paramount did this because we're in a post-Avatar movie business now. When Nolan wanted to shoot some of The Dark Knight in Imax back in 2007, that's pretty much all there was aside from 35mm and the equivalent digital projection. 3D hadn't truly "arrived," it was only in a few theaters here and there. Cut to 2012, now there are thousands of 3D theaters and only several hundred imax. Stuff like Ghost Protocol and Dark Knight Rises were now the exception to the rule. The moneymaking potential of 3D now outweighed that of imax.

I never got around to seeing Into Darkness in 15/70 out in Chantilly, although I heard the imax shots were matted to 1.66:1 for some reason. In an interview with the vfx guys they said this was to avoid making the AR switch too jarring for the audience. I can't help but think the real reason had something to do with rendering times and all that, but who knows.

The real question, to me, is how they're gonna handle the imax exhibition of the movie.

Imax is expected to start replacing their 15/70 projectors with the 4k+4k laser projectors they've developed, starting here in DC with the smithsonian's three theaters sometime next year. Right now, the two theaters on the mall in downtown DC are 3D-capable but the one out in Chantilly is 2d-only (the digital conversion will make it 3D-capable as well).

I bring all of this up because episode VII will doubtlessly be converted to 3d.

For Star Trek Into Darkness this wasn't a problem, as Paramount sent a single, 15/70 2D print to Chantilly for opening night and a 3D 15/70 to one of the downtown theaters a couple weeks later. For Star Wars, I wonder if I'll even be able to see it in 4k+4k 2D or if 3d will be my only option as far as imax goes.

Looking at the photo in the tweet makes me want to see what that camera is seeing!

Ah, so he did in fact "talk" about it without literally talking about it.

This isn't the first we've heard about stormtroopers, either. The previous rumor was of chrome-armored troopers and not the white uniforms from the OT.

Smith nodding with a big smile on his face makes me wonder which version he actually saw.

ATMachine said:

Poor choice of words, obviously. No stocks of celluloid were harmed in the making of that pile. ;)

But apparently Lucas actually did film them and then cut them out after an Internet backlash: http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/01/11/nsync-not-nstar-wars-after-all

Go figure. Maybe it was because he was particularly sensitive to that sort of criticism at the time. After all, this was right after the release of TPM so visibly shattered the pedestal he was so accustomed to standing on. He probably grew a thicker skin as the prequels wore on.

This raises a question I've had for a very long time. Maybe Zombie explains it in his book, but what were the big things Lucas changed from his original plans for Episodes II and III after the big TPM backlash?

You gotta wonder just how something like the Falcon's door closing broke his leg. His ankle would've at least made sense, they could've just had bad timing closing the door and it landed on his foot or something. But his leg? How does that happen?

It's worth noting that Roger Guyett was one of the vfx supervisors on RotS before working on Abrams' Trek films and now Episode VII.

Yeah, I actually re-watched it earlier today and it hit me once I saw The Man Behind The Mask. I'll have to get ahold of that silent version sometime, looks cool!

Watching the documentary again, I realize now that the situation with the original negative is actually explained pretty thoroughly, although the whole OOT on video thing still might not be clear to the layman. From what's presented in the movie, the uninformed person might go "I don't get it, they released the original version on dvd. What's everyone complaining about?"

unamochilla2 said:

I'm not familiar with Johnson or his work, yet.  Do you think he'll continue using practical effects and real locations or rely more on CGI and green screens?  Granted, we don't know how much CGI is in Episode VII and no doubt there will be, but the Abrams team has put a lot of emphasis on using more practical effects and real locations.  Also wonder if the next two films will be shot digitally?

Definitely he'll go more practical/real than cgi/greenscreen. Looper has some cgi, but it's used sparingly. Hell, there's little difference between the "looping" effect itself and the jump cuts you see in the original Star Wars.

Everything he's directed was shot on film, including his Breaking Bad episodes (that entire show was shot on film). Also, Looper was shot in the anamorphic format of the OT/TPM and all of Abrams' movies (including Ep7), so Johnson will certainly push to have Ep8 shot that way as well. The only question is whether there will still be film to shoot on and well-maintained cameras to shoot it with by the time this goes into production.

Anyway, I've been excitedly following this news for the last several hours. I must've just happened to load up /Film mere moments after the story broke, 'cause all it said was "Rian Johnson is writing/directing 8 and 9, we'll have more later."

Yeah, definitely got the biggest reaction out of me since the day this whole Disney ball got rolling.

They quickly updated with a full article saying he was only writing a treatment for Ep9, not directing. This was good news to me as I want a different director on each film, like the OT.

I always knew Abrams wasn't gonna come back for VIII. Directing a Star Wars movie seems to be more of a bucket list thing for him. Apparently he's gonna stay on as a producer for the other films. Hopefully it won't be to their detriment. 

Rian Johnson was definitely on many people's lists of dream directors for Ep7, so it seems fitting to see this happening.

Oh, and I love that second tweet regarding the SE. Spoken like a true celluloid-lover.

TMBTM said:

Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

Will there be Special Editions of PvGL?

 

I can do a version with my whole interview put back in it. Cause we all agree that 20 seconds of TMBTM is not enough! (and don't you dare saying "that's what she said!")

Which interview is you?

There's still plenty of stuff to talk about that didn't come up in the first one, stuff that's now taken on new relevance. The biggest "what might have been" is the original plan, circa 1980, to just keep going with the series and make episodes 7, 8, 9 and so on. Instead, GL decided to just condense all that into a nice, safe ending for the trilogy where Han Solo lives and Leia is Luke's sister. What we could've gotten is a nice series of six films with the same cast, each from a different director, and then an Episode I in the mid-to-late 90's (again, different director). The original 1977 movie should've remained the only Lucas-directed Star Wars movie.

I think a lot of what people don't like about the prequels goes all the way back to the problems with RotJ. My biggest problem with the PT is its execution, namely that it was directed and scripted by Lucas. But the overall story of the PT was always GL's to tell, just as it had been with the OT. In that sense, I don't see much point in rebooting the prequels.

I recently got around to watching the first one and honestly enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a hilarious and moving look at just why this franchise matters so much to so many people all over the world.

A second movie could explore things like George's ongoing revision of the story since day one, going right back to the first draft of the script and continuing today with "there is no Episode VII." Maybe they could interview Zombie.

Also, the blu-ray was yet to be released when the first one came out, and now it's been almost three years without so much as a peep as to when (if ever) we'll see the OOT. I'm glad LFL's bs excuse for the GOUT was at least brought up in the first doc, but the layman might not really understand what the problem is. If they were to finish this new doc at 1080p (and presumably they would anyway), they could not only address the third wave of changes made to the films, they could also pretty clearly show the dramatic difference between the blu-ray and the GOUT. Maybe even point out the hilarity of how "they can't even get the SE right" (crushed-out star fields, boosted contrast, wrong colors, etc).

Other things of note since March of 2010:

-The Clone Wars (started in 2008 but I don't think it was brought up in the first one)

-Plinkett's reviews of AOTC and ROTS (The RLM guys made a brief appearance in the first one, but it was probably finished before the now legendary TPM review went up on youtube in December of '09)

-The Senator Theater screening

-TESB being added to the National Film Registry

-Lucas' comment at Celebration Europe about the OOT being too expensive to restore. Not only was it a ludicrous statement, it was also the first time he stopped using his "vision" for the I-VI saga as justification for burying the originals.

-The Phantom Menace 3D

-Red Tails finally getting made

-Spielberg's E.T. getting released on blu-ray sans the 2002 special edition, an interesting counterpoint to Star Wars' current situation.

-the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney after all this talk of George's independence from Hollywood, even though LFL had pretty much been exclusively in the Star Wars and Indiana Jones business since at least the mid-90's (Alien Chronicles and Red Tails are the only other things I can think of in that time). Once again, the "all ighty ollar" seemed to trump everything else.

-Everything that got shelved because of said buyout, like the 3D releases of the other films and, more notably, the long-in-development live action tv series.

-The EU's evolving status, from being the official continuation of the story to having "levels of canon" to now not being canon at all .... except the new stuff ($$$$$).

Baronlando said:

Fang Zei said:

One is a recent study predicting that streaming revenue will overtake sales/rentals of physical media in 2016.

 That's not hard to believe when you see all the 5 dollar blu-rays out there lately. And the people who are actually buying the discs seem mostly lame and insufferable, judging by the forums out there. (I've been lurking at bluray.com and HTF, where I see silverwook has been fighting the good OT fight even though there's always some guys ready to swoop in and douche up the Star Wars thread)

I post over at the avsforum occasionally. My sig there had a link to the new petition for a while before someone informed me it was violating the forum rules.

Wasn't being serious, but I am genuinely shocked it took this long.

Zombie probably answered this question in his book, but I'm too lazy to look it up so I'll ask it here:

Was the original plan (circa 1980) to just keep going and make 6, 7, 8, 9, etc, or was George already planning on doing the PT before the ST?

I remember seeing a tv news story on youtube from, I think, the time of Empire's production/release where they're interviewing Hamill on set and he says "I can't wait to see the earlier trilogy, the one I'm not in."

There were two interesting disc-related stories today.

One is a recent study predicting that streaming revenue will overtake sales/rentals of physical media in 2016.

The other is that Ghostbusters 2 is hitting blu-ray later this year, which means we can finally say this format has arrived.

If they wiped the post-RotJ EU clean just so they could retell a major story from said EU, it would piss off pretty much everyone. It would straight up disappoint the people who never liked those books and were hoping for something truly original. Meanwhile, it would be like adding insult to injury for the fans that were still holding on to the now "old" continuity.

That alien might look like a Vong, but as Ridley Scott said in the Prometheus making-of, every damn creature design has been done by now.

Also, is that the Vong's chin or just a finger?

As for George's ST idea, well, it'll probably have something to do with whatever got discarded before he condensed the rest into RotJ.

There's really only two main things I would emphasize.

First off, there was the major alteration of the movies through the use of technology that didn't exist when they were originally shot and released (something that, to the best of my knowledge, was unprecedented in 1997).

Going off of that, you could go into how Lucas stopped labeling the SE as the SE, first with the 2000 vhs set and then the 2004 dvd (which was technically a further altered version).

Secondly, I would bring up the release of the GOUT and all of the problems it entailed, not the least of which was George going back on his "This is it" stance regarding the SE.

imperialscum said:

So if they decide to release theatrical version in HD format, I wonder if they will release 1997 SE as well. I mean there are some of us whose favourite version is 1997 SE.

 I would kinda hope they do, but most people out there don't really distinguish between the various versions of the SE like we do.

But I've said it before and I'll say it again: Each movie warrants its own Blade Runner style set. I would be happy if they merely included all the theatrically-released versions. To me it's a given that they'll do a 3D release of the SE, hopefully from fresh scans. If that happened, disc one of each movie's blu-ray could be the newest version of its SE. Disc two could then be the '97 SE and disc three the original version.

Perhaps I should clarify my original questions.

I'm not so much talking about syncing up in terms of story, but merely in terms of looking/sounding of a whole with the OOT.

But this kind of leads me to my other question: does it really matter? Does the fact that some of the environments in the PT are cg whereas even the most fantastical locales of the OOT (like Bespin) are still "analog" actually matter?

In a world without the SE, would it matter that the PT is as cg-filled as it is?

When the OOT is restored/remastered I suspect the SE will get a fresh treatment as well (if it hasn't already by that point) and the lowry master will be retired. That way, no matter how good the OOT looks, the SE will look just as good if not better.

All of this talk of practical vs cgi in the Episode VII thread got me thinking about a question that comes to my mind every now and then.

In an alternate universe where the SE never happened, do you think the PT could've been made in a way that synced up seamlessly with the OOT?

Also, do you think it's possible to watch the actual PT in conjunction with the OOT?

Wasn't another big aspect of TPM the fact that, like, 95% of the shots in the movie involved some kind of digital effect?

Verboten said:

So what's stopping Fox from just releasing their own restoration of Star Wars and then leaving Empire and Jedi up to Disney post 2020?

I always assumed Fox never messed around with Star Wars out of courtesy to George, but he's out of the equation now.

Sure, it's not going to be the streamlined box set that most would like, but it is better than nothing and may be better than waiting on them to come to some deal.

Am I missing something?

Fox would still need Lucasfilm's permission.

Tobar said:

Kind of weird to try and recreate the original theatrical experience with the short film but then using the special edition for the feature.

That didn't stop them from throwing in the old trailers on the dvd, or the deleted scenes on the blu-ray.

I was in 8th grade when TPM came out and just a couple weeks from turning 14 (way to make me feel old, guys).

TPM was originally scheduled for May 21st (my best friend's birthday), but was bumped up two days when the second trailer hit in March.

What I still remember vividly from the morning of opening day is my French teacher starting off class by saying "Now, we all know what "sequel" means," as she wrote the word on the board. Then she asked "Qu'est-ce que c'est "prequel"?" as she wrote that word as well.

"Wow, my French teacher is bringing this up right at the start of class," I thought. That's when I realized it wasn't just a big deal to me, it was a big deal all over.

It's just dawning on me now, especially thinking back to that "The Beginning" documentary from the dvd, that she'd probably seen a story about it on the news the night before and was wondering what all this "prequel" hubbub was all about.

We explained to her that the originals were IV, V and VI and that this was I.

Later in the day, between classes, I remember overhearing some of the other kids making plans to go see it that night. On a Wednesday. Again, exemplifying just how big a deal this movie was.

I'd told myself I could wait for the weekend, but who the hell was I kidding? This movie I'd awaited fervently since November was finally in theaters and I could go see it right now. All it took was the offer of a drive to the theater from my totally awesome mom to convince me.

Getting out of the car I bumped into a friend from the neighborhood who'd just seen it and said it was pretty good. I bought a ticket for the next late-afternoon show (this was probably around 5:30), surprised it wasn't sold out. Not only was it not sold out, but by the time the movie started the theater wasn't even close to being full.

Anyway, I still remember hearing about how Lucasfilm had limited (ahah!) the number of trailers that could be attached to the movie. I remember them playing the American Pie trailer. The Austin Powers 2 trailer was probably attached to my print as well, I remember seeing it on either Access Hollywood or E.T. in any event. Then of course there was Fox's "a quick look at three films currently in development," which were Fight Club, Anna and the King and Titan A.E.

Then the lights went down and the Loews Cineplex logo played. Then that familiar Fox fanfare started and the logos and titles came up.

"Holy Shit, this is really happening."

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

STAR WARS

There it was, just as we knew it would be:

Episode I

THE PHANTOM MENACE

The crawl continued, looking exactly as it had in the originals but obviously having been accomplished digitally this time around (and for good reason), an intentionally low-fi effect in an otherwise cutting edge movie and something that was a throwback even in 1977. The only thing different was the words.

Then the crawl ended and the camera tilted down to an approaching spaceship, only to pan with the ship and follow it as it flew by.

Weird aliens, a protocol droid, Darth Sidious via hologram, then a laser blast, an explosion and HOLY SHIT, LIGHTSABERS.

I could go on and on, but lemme just say that I'd read the first hundred pages or so of the novelization, stopping right after Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan for Anakin's midichlorian count. In that respect it was almost like seeing the pages played out on screen beat for beat, knowing what would happen but delighting in not knowing how. Obviously the rest of the movie after that was unknown, but I'd pretty much spoiled for myself stuff like Qui-Gon dying from flipping through the comic book at the store. The action and spectacle, the scope and scale, were entertaining nevertheless.

The lightsaber fight at the end had me still buzzing after the movie had ended.

I remember passing all the people lined up for the evening screening and bumping into my basketball coach (only a few years older than me), who was among them.

My initial overall reaction was "that was the greatest movie ever!" Deep down, I knew better.