The Dark Knight is raking in some insanely great reviews (9.5/10 @ Metacritic, 9.7/10 @ IMDB, 94% @ Rotten Tomatoes…you get the picture).

The movie did so well that it actually broke box office records, bringing in a total of $66.4 million on opening day. The movie is set to break the opening weekend box office record as well which is held by Spiderman 3.

Anyway, I’m really excited to go and see this movie. I’ve been saying all along that this movie is probably going to be better than Iron Man (which many people have used as a Summer blockbuster comparison to The Dark Knight). I hope I’ll be able to catch it in IMAX because I hear the IMAX version is a lot better than the standard theater release.

WIRED has an article about the use of IMAX technology and cameras in the filming of The Dark Knight. This is an excerpt:

His reasons were both aesthetic and practical: Imax film stock is enormous, roughly 10 times the size of 35-mm celluloid, and it soaks up a vast amount of visual information. Those dimensions are what make the image so rich and sharp, even spread over a screen the size of a blimp hangar. While conventional films are digitized at 2K resolution (2,000 pixels across), or 4K at most, adding visual effects to Imax footage requires digitizing each frame at up to 8K. In other words, the difficulty and expense of doing f/x rise exponentially with the size of the negative.

…

It was an ambitious tale, and Nolan needed a canvas to match, a format that could sweep fans off their feet. Imax was his best bet. Since the late 1960s, the Canadian company has specialized in large-format filmmaking and projection. Its screens are the biggest on offer, and their vertiginous 1.43:1 aspect ratio is uniquely suited to tales set on dizzying rooftops. “It’s like replicating that childhood experience of moviegoing,” Thomas says. “It’s harder to be taken out of your own world as a grown-up. You need an even bigger screen.”

Of course, most people will ultimately see Knight on ordinary multiplex screens. The scenes shot in Imax — the bank heist and Hong Kong escape, all the aerial shots, a bang-up armored car chase, and the final confrontation with the Joker — will have to be adjusted to the usual 2.40:1 aspect ratio. But because they’re compressed from the sumptuous Imax negative, those sequences will still retain a special visual richness.

If you’re interested in reading more about how IMAX is totally awesome, Popular Mechanics also has a feature article on the IMAX experience in relation to The Dark Knight. The video in the article is worth watching.

Find tickets and showtimes for The Dark Knight in IMAX theaters here.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 20th, 2008 at 2:18 am and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.