Divya MurthyDetroit Free Press
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If you ask film aficionados what iconic AMC opening act Nicole Kidman means when she says “dazzling images on a huge silver screen, sound that I can feel — somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this,” they might tell you she’s talking about IMAX 70mm film.
Interest in IMAX and 70mm film screens has been peaking the last few weeks as we inch closer to the official release of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” on Friday. But much fewer theaters in the U.S. get to the true IMAX experience than one might think.
Nolan, the filmmaker famous for epic blockbusters such as “Interstellar” and The Dark Knight Trilogy, is famed for shooting his movies on 70mm film and insisting that movie-goers experience the movie the way it was intended — the scenes fill up the screen, the clarity is unmatched by regular 35mm film standards, and you “feel” the bass rather than hear it. Nolan calls it the “gold standard” of filmmaking and what any other technology has to match up to.
IMAX has been around for decades — and movie theaters across the country and world have adapted their screens to fit its ambitions. But fitting screens and multiplexes to IMAX and 70 mm film is not cheap — for a long time, museums and dome-theaters were the only ways to see movies or documentaries in 70mm film.
Then came digital IMAX, IMAX’s solution to commercializing the experience, or what is popularly called “LieMax.” Digital IMAX uses what are called Christie 2K projectors — which, while still a step up from regular movie experiences and standard projectors, do not match up to the drama and total immersiveness promised by an IMAX 70mm film viewing. Critics say that the aspect ratios are off, the sound quality is inferior and the resolution of the image falls short. Yet movie theaters across the country bill this viewing as IMAX. Far fewer screens in fact show true IMAX 70mm films.
So, if you’re looking for the full Nolan experience with “Oppenheimer” — start hunting now. According to IMAX, there are currently only 19 screens in the U.S. offering “Oppenheimer” screenings in IMAX 70mm film. Two of them are in Michigan. (New York City has one, and all of Texas has two.)
The 2 Michigan IMAX 70mm theaters showing 'Oppenheimer'
- Chrysler IMAX Dome Center at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit
- Celebration! Cinema Grand Rapids North and IMAX in Grand Rapids
Both theaters will show “Oppenheimer” in IMAX 70mm. Be warned: if you’re booking last-minute, you might not be able to get opening weekend tickets, or good tickets for next weekend. Detroit is sold out until August 1.
And here’s a fun fact: the actual film reel for “Oppenheimer” is 11 miles long and weighs more than 600 pounds, per the Motion Picture Association. Check out the unspooling of the massive reel at Grand Rapids, where "Oppenheimer" arrived earlier this week.
