New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Part 3 of a 4-part series on the advent of HD and digital cinema.

“It’s a whole new ballgame, something people have never seen before.”-- James Cameron, in 1996, referencing Universal’s T2: 3-D ride

It’s been a very long time since the theater-going experience hasn’t been augmented in some way or another by a premium format, or pitched with a feature or amenity above and beyond the “average” theatrical experience. In the modern sense, this takes the form of large-format showings (IMAX, Cinemark XD, Regal/UA’s RPX, Atlas Cinema’s XXDXP - really, at a certain point, you could probably just pull an acronym out of thin air and it’ll be the name of a premium format somewhere. My favorite is the New York-based Bow Tie Cinemas and their Bow Tie Xtreme option, which is an incongruous pairing of words on a level with The Last Exorcism, Part II).

Large-format screenings are big business now, but they’re just the latest entry in an ongoing tide of specialty features that include 3D, reclining leather seats, and full food/beverage service; if we go back to the 1990s, we find stadium seating becoming a selective option. Now, of course, it’s everywhere. These tactics are not subtle. The premium screening experience is the ’80s hair of going to the theater. The goal here is to make the entire thing bigger, with the result that going to a premium screening can - depending on the film being shown - exist as an assault on the senses as readily as it can an audiovisual form of storytelling.

Dolby’s Atmos surround sound setup allows theaters - at least, those with the desire to pulverize their audience’s eardrums - the ability to provide sound from up to 64 different speakers. The D-BOX motion system is a theater seat that initiates motion and vibration effects in rough sync with the film being shown. As indicated, none of this is new. Atmos is a logical evolution of SenSurround, and D-BOX really isn’t much more than an advanced version of William Castle’s Percepto gimmick from The Tingler, albeit one that can work with any film.

The purpose of this installment of Intermittent Issues is to take a look at where all of these concepts emanate from, and why they exist. We’ll also be charting the course of premium cinema features in the present, and what they’ve done to simultaneously bolster and diminish the experience of going to the theater. Ultimately, we’ll be looking at how all of these owe their existence in whole or in part to HD and digital projection.

Continued:       1       2       3       4       5       6