Techno-babble aside, for Harry Potter junkies this translates into an “explosive,” 20-minute finale that has been converted into IMAX 3D. The preceding 118 minutes are 2D. Despite all its money, manpower, and grandeur, IMAX can’t rip out a feature-length, non-digital film entirely in 3D.
Yet.
Once you’ve hit the 118-minute mark, the film will flash green Harry Potter glasses on the bottom of the screen. This is your signal to get nerdy. With glasses armed, Harry Potter and his gang of almost-adult miscreants will barrel with omnipresence into your body.
Previous to its moment in Harry Potter history this July, family films like Happy Feet and Night at the Museum came to moviegoers in IMAX with incremental success. The film 300 was especially “a big deal” to IMAX, Foster says, who acknowledges that it did 10 percent of the business on only one percent of the screens.
The creation process is one that’s “not free but also not going to break the bank,” Foster says, adding that he only has eight slots a year to time his prowess around blockbuster films. Foster targets visionary filmmakers like George Lucas, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Zach Snyder, and Chris Nolan.
As technology refines, conversion fleets. He says Apollo 13 consumed three months of conversion time, The Matrix Revolutions abridged to three weeks and Spider-Man 3 whizzed by in 10 days.
“Down the road, the vast majority will be in 3D. We’ll see some kind of enhanced, interactive experience,” Foster said. “I’m constantly pushing the envelope of invention. I have all the confidence in the world that what will take place in the home, in 3D or in theaters will be at the forefront of innovation, imagination, and invention.”
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Article comments
1 - david vosper
I went to see H.P. at the Smithsonian IMAX theatre in Chantilly, VA.
It was nearly impossible to locate an IMAX theatre near Baltimore that was showing the movie. At no time was I advised that only the last 20 minutes of the movie was in 3D.
I took a friend and her two kids, promising them a 3D movie. We drove for 1 1/2 hours from Baltimore to Virginia. NONE of the film was in 3D, not even the last 20 minutes!