IMAX VS. 3D....Which is better?

[LotsoA113]

With Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol opening up today in 400 IMAX screens, I thought it might be a good idea to dsicuss an intirguing fact: Which is better, IMAX screens or Digital 3D?

IF you ask me, both can be done either really well (the 3D in Hugo was fantastic) and misused (why was Happy Feet Two in IMAX?) but they both can add significantly to a film if used in the right way. MI4, for instance, uses a sequence with IMAX cameras that REALLY bring the movie to ya.

What do you guys think?

[Vernadyn]

I haven't seen very many films in 3D, or many features in IMAX (plenty of documentaries, though). Toy Story 3 didn't really need to be 3D. Even Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon only had certain scenes where the 3D was really noticeable and effective. It seems to work best when there are small objects that are supposed to be close to the screen, like the floating jellyfish from Avatar. Hugo's 3D is praised a lot, but I unfortunately only saw it in 2D. For me, 3D works better in short doses. Terminator 2:3D at Universal Studios is still my favorite use of 3D. Then again, 3D doesn't add much to the new Star Tours at Disneyland.

As far as IMAX goes, some of the screens I've seen only seem a little bigger than normal. One movie complex near me has four screens each in its own building, and I swear those screens are bigger than the IMAX screens I've seen at other multiplexes. The one film I've seen in either of these formats that really blew me away was a dozen years ago when I saw Fantasia 2000 in an eight-story IMAX dome theater.

Anyway, I'll be seeing Mission: Impossible in IMAX and see how that is.

[Dacey]

IMAX is never going to catch on like 3-D. Why? Because there are very few locations that have. The closest iMAX screen to me is in Batltimore, which is more than two hours away from where I live. Also, an IMAX ticket costs at least $20 dollars...at a bargain price show.

[Ben]

The screens may be expensive and hard to find, but nothing beats Imax 3D as a moviegoing experience.

It used to be that movies were bigger than the screen. Imax on its own is "big" but it doesn't make the movies better. 3D is a gimmick that doesn't make the movies better. But put the two together, and going to see a film becomes a proper, old-school, going out for the evening event.

Unfortunately we only have a few screens here and none real close, so it's rarely that we venture out to see an Imax 3D film, and nowadays I'm even more wary of spending a lot to see something that is likely, and sadly, to be mediocre.

I know it wasn't 3D, but I agree that Fantasia 2000 was a real event and I remember that absolutely vividly...people were dressing up in their best like it was a trip to the theater. The best 3D I have ever seen was Ghosts Of The Abyss, James Cameron's return to the Titanic. In Imax 3D you weren't just there with him, you could have been in danger of drowning.

It's those kind of event films that really deserve the treatment. At the moment 3D (and Imax to a point) is just a way to charge more to see the same trash as is playing in a standard screen at your local fleapit. Some (and only some) CG animation aside, I've yet to be really blown away by 3D. Even on Tintin - which I absolutely adored - the 3D didn't really add anything to the experience. It's just kind of there and fairly cool, but I enjoyed it just as much when I went back again (and again!) to see it flat.

I am looking forward to Hugo, though, as I've been hearing great things specifically about how the 3D is integrated into the story, which intrigues me...

[LotsoA113]

IMAX and Digital 3D are in the exact same position at this point in terms of usage. I know it sounds insane, but there's now an IMAX movie coming out every other week. There's no room for films to have legs in the IMAX format, whereas most theatres have multiple 3D screens at this point. Plus, IMAX is sort of being given to every film now, isntead of just events like the previously mentioned Fantasia 2000. MI4 sounds like it's fantastic, as will TDKR, but for some reason I just think Underworld: Awakening isn't quite a must-see in the format.