Monday, Nov. 4, 2002 | 8:45 a.m.
Oh, and Jedi master Yoda kicking some serious Dark Side butt.
Some Hollywood moments are just made for the big screen.
And they don't get much bigger than IMAX.
Roughly eight times larger than a better-than-average standard movie screen, IMAX has traditionally been known as a showcase for documentary and science films. Titles such as "China: Panda Adventure," "Fires of Kuwait" and the "The Deepest Garden."
Recently, however, IMAX has opened itself up to the mainstream.
First, in September, came "Apollo 13." And now arriving is "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones The IMAX Experience," which opened at IMAX theaters nationwide Friday, including Luxor's IMAX Theater.
"Our technology was very focused on what I refer to as 'institutional product,'" meaning movies more suited for museums, said Greg Foster, president of filmed entertainment at IMAX. "Which is cool, but after the Animal Planet, National Geographic and Discovery (channels), it becomes a little repetitive. We needed to adjust, not annihilate, our programming, where a chunk of our movies needs to remain in institutional environments, but (create) a new group that includes new movies.
"Event family films, that's what we're focused on."
Of which, "Clones" fits in perfectly.
The second of George Lucas' prequel trilogy to the original "Star Wars" canon, "Episode II" was released in May to so-so reviews but was a box-office success. With a $302 million total haul, the space fantasy stands as the fourth highest-grossing film this year. ("Spider-Man" is No. 1.)
In that respect, Lucas' intergalactic cash cow is perfect for the 225 IMAX theaters worldwide.
What better way to bring in audiences than with the No. 13 film of all time, according to recent box-office data?
"Obviously, 'Star Wars' is the most successful film franchise in history and having that brand in our theater, especially an IMAX screen, is going to be great," Gil Perez, director of rides and attractions at Luxor, said. "It's a win-win situation when the IMAX brand is paired with the 'Star Wars' franchise."
Fans of Lucas' fantasy epic are, understandably, ready to see the movie as bigger-than-life, too, on a movie screen seven stories high and as wide as a basketball court.
"I've heard some pretty good things about it," said Tim Anadon, commanding officer of the Las Vegas Neon City Garrison, a local "Star Wars" fan club. "The details on the backgrounds are supposed to be more intense than on 35 mm or digital. You should be able to see a lot more of the action. You lose some of the resolution when it's smaller."
Since a marriage between such box-office draws as "Clones" and "Apollo 13" and IMAX seems so natural, the obvious question is why this union hasn't happened sooner.
Actually, it has.
On Jan. 1, 2000, Disney's "Fantasia 2000" became the first "mainstream" movie to play IMAX. In fact, it took several months before the film made its debut into standard-size cinemas.
"Fantasia 2000" proved to be a huge hit for IMAX and the Mouse House, so Disney re-released "Beauty and the Beast" in IMAX format late in 2001.
But until now, it is only animated movies that have been remastered to the IMAX film format called 15/70, which, at 10 times the size of 35 mm, is the largest commercial film format ever.
Occasionally, IMAX theaters -- especially those housed in cineplexes -- would add "special" showings of popular films, such as last year's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
But those showings were no more than 35 mm prints stretched to capacity to fill the IMAX screens.
The results were bigger, but not better, as the celluloid images became blurry, with flaws on the film print magnified to gigantic proportions.
"It's trying to put a square peg in a round hole," Foster said of the technique. "It's not what (IMAX was) created for."
A recent technological advance in film formatting, DMR (Digital Re-Mastering), however, allows IMAX to remaster standard 35 mm prints of live-action films into its 15/70 format.
The process is relatively simple, with each 35 mm film image scanned and converted to digital format. The images are then analyzed, with corrections made for sharpness, color, grain removal and unsteadiness.
The enhanced digital image is then recorded onto the 15/70 IMAX film format.
The resulting process ensures film images retain clarity and focus, even when blown up to eight times the original size or more.
"The difference is like the difference between a cubic zirconia and a flawless five-karat diamond from Tiffany's," Foster said, in comparing a standard 35 mm print shown on IMAX versus a DMR version.
Once the new technology was proven effective, IMAX approached "Apollo 13" director Ron Howard about remastering the film for IMAX release.
Howard quickly approved the film conversion, and the entire DMR process took only a few months, with the director supervising the work from beginning to end.
In fact, Howard was so impressed with the entire process and end result, he talked up IMAX to several Hollywood friends, including Lucas.
Then, in mid-August, Lucas approached IMAX about also releasing "Clones" in IMAX format.
After some initial test footage was screened, Foster said Lucas was similarly impressed and gave the go-ahead for Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Co. to make the giant leap to IMAX screens.
Since the DMR technology at the time only allowed for a two-hour print, roughly 20 minutes of "Clones" had to be excised, he said. All of which Lucasfilm handled themselves.
"We didn't make one change," Foster said. "One thing we are adamant about -- the same with 'Apollo 13' -- is that we're not filmmakers. We are, but not of these movies. We're not going to take Ron Howard's movie and cut it for him.
"In fact, I have a problem with that. If a filmmaker wants to take his own movie and make adjustments to fit a format, television, video, DVD, that's fine. But it's inappropriate for anyone to take that movie and make the changes for them. And we will not, under any circumstances, do that for them."
But time constraints should be less of a problem since IMAX recently developed the ability to handle up to three platters of film -- one for each hour -- at a time. This now makes it possible to show other big-budget fantasy films, such as the "Harry Potter" or "Lord of the Rings" movies, all of which clock in at two-hours plus, with no forced editing.
There's even a chance those films will be playing in IMAX theaters, too, at some point.
While Foster would not name any movies specifically, he said to expect up to four Hollywood features to be shown in IMAX theaters nationwide annually. Perhaps even released simultaneously with the 35 mm prints in the cineplexes.
At least that's the goal, he said.
"The public wants it. There's not been a better cinema experience, a really, truly significantly better 'Oh my God!' change in years," Foster said. "And that's why people have reacted so well to 'Apollo 13' and 'Clones.' It's a pretty significant difference."
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