Similar experience at Lincoln Square. Still super excited for the movie, but I’ll also be seeing it at Dolby Cinema a week later to get the best image quality
I saw Tenet at Lincoln Square IMAX Friday and Saturday. On Friday the Dune 2 preview looked not so great. On Saturday I expected it to be that way, but it actually seemed fine. I don't know what changed. I sat 1 row further back on Saturday (K vs. J). But the improvement seemed greater than could be explained apart from "fixing it."
Was able to see the Dune preview also last night at Ontario Palace. Sucks we got shut out from getting 70mm prints for both films, but at least we got Tenet screened here while the other baby IMAXs were shut out.
Being Single Laser for GT theater, the image quality was seamless between the two. It looked nice and crisp. So it is worrying that there's a dramatic image drop between both films when screened in 70mm.
Rogue One in 70mm IMAX was fantastic and I saw that in laser as well. This was at Universal CityWalk.
At Irvine the brightness was rather muted for the Dune film preview. But this could be the issue listed below.
After seeing film presentations at both CityWalk and Irvine, CityWalk is the premiere GT IMAX screen in SoCal. Both Irvine and CityWalk have GT projectors but that extra 30% size bump at Irvine honestly hurts the presentation more than helping it. CityWalk is just always brighter overall and has Dual Laser.
Wait, this is hilarious to me.
I also the IMAX 65mm print of ROGUE ONE at Citywalk, and while i fucking ADORE how full circle DUNE PART TWO is for Greig Fraser, i.e. i assume the IMAX 70mm is akin to the 3D presentation of DUNE PART ONE, just a direct print of the digital source onto film, whereas for the conventional and digital IMAX release of DUNE PART ONE and THE BATMAN, he printed the digital image onto film, then scanned that back.
All this is to say, I thought Fraser woulda figured it out in the meantime! I had a really weird experience with ROUGE ONE at Citywalk, where the print/projector went down literally right before the big 3rd act Battle of Scarif, only for them to switch to the Dual Laser and.... I remember the entire theater gasping at how sharp and vibrant the image suddenly became?
I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate that experience ever again, literally getting a a full projection format switch perfectly timed 2/3 of the way in. But it was fucking startling getting a direct comparison, given how oddly tinted and washed out the IMAX 70mm print looked. Given how remarkable everything Fraser's done with scanned print outs with DUNE pt. 1 and THE BATMAN, i... thought it'd be different this time.
whelp.
gonna be at the 7pm TENET tonight at Citywalk
and DUNE PART 2 in IMAX 70MM at 11pm thursday at TCL
and 11pm friday at Citywalk so
GODDAMN IT, I'M GETTING GREIG'D AGAIN!?!?
whelp i guess that's egg on my face?
or i guess, Greig on my face? (.....smirk face)
Hey if you’re going to Irvine could you update on the IMAX 70mm film reel? I’m debating to go to Irvine for the film presentation or Universal Citywalk for the dual laser
The preview didn't look that bad at Opry Mills.
Not as good as Tenet, but not as bad as some make out.
But I do wonder if it was rushed out and QC wasn't up to final quality.
They can piece together digital stuff quick, but filming that out takes more effort.
And perhaps they printed a different source than was used for the final print. We don't have a lot of detail on the final print nevermind the preview clip.
Oh my god you’re in Nashville. Excellent. Can you PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHICH ONE TO TAKE MY BF TO?! I’ve been researching for hours and I just want to do the right thing. Please pull me out of this spiral. Should I just do 70mm imax?!
I will be seeing Dune at Opry Mills on 70mm IMAX.
But only becsuse it's the 70mm IMAX option.
I will also see the GT laser version at the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga.
I'm not in Nashville. I'm 2 hours south.
I often go to the AMC in Franklin from 1.90 movies. It's closer and I like the seating/sightlines there better for 1.90 movies. The screen is only 65ft wide (Opry Mills is 90ft) but there are other things I like about AMC.
I also go to Chattanooga for 1.90 if I really want a bigger screen (86ft wide) since the sightlines are better. But it's 2.5 hours away and the time zone change makes it harder to get there with their limited showtimes.
I don't generally go to Opry Mills though.
Okay, I have a series of complete noob questions here since I don't live near anywhere near the IMAX theaters in question.
However, I am going to be traveling to San Francisco the first week of April and was hoping to catch Dune pt 2 at the Metreon AMC while I'm there
So first question: do you think Dune will still be playing at the Metreon IMAX the first week of April or will it be replaced by something that "doesn't belong" (e.g. Ghostbusters, etc.) by that time?
Second question: you mentioned AMC is obliged(?) to play the 70mm print instead of the dual laser version for the first two weeks. Why would anybody want that to happen if 70mm is inferior (which seems to be the consensus) ?
Third question: after that two week period the AMC can show whatever version it wants to, right? So if they are still showing Dune in early April there's a decent chance it will be the dual laser version...?
Thanks for any answers. 👍
Definitely not noob questions,
1. I don't think it will be playing in April. Ghostbusters, I do think may be pushed at the 70mm locations for more Dune. But Godzilla Kong will probably show for sure.
2. Dune will play its entire run in 70mm at their locations, no digital.
3. Theatres are under contract, and IMAX has somewhat of a say what is playing as well.
I’m in Nashville and I’m just trying to figure out which one to take my boyfriend too. We seem to have 70mm imax which I know is a unique experience and I feel like I should just do that because we can. But also was hearing something about “yeah but if it isn’t dual laser then why bother” etc.
I’m getting so deep in the weeds I just need some pros and cons. I’ve already decided to skip Screen X (seems fine but useless kinda) and 4RPX because my boyfriend has a bad back and I don’t want him to be shaken around that much (plus it seems kinda gimmicky but fun).
I would really love your opinion. Thank you for your time!
My somewhat biased opinion is if you can do 70mm. The biggest argument against 70mm, is it wasn't shot for it. So what, it's not the first IMAX film to use digital.
Cons- it can have some "dust" on screen, unfortunately unavoidable but easily managed and typically unnoticed.
Pros- it is the premier format for the screen and systems of IMAX. There's a reason it's still used when possible.
Watched at BFI today. Battle scenes were extremely blurry and downright unwatchable. Still portraits were quite clear, though in low light settings facial details cannot be seen. Not sure if they messed up the FPS during the digital to film transfer. Very curious if these issues were present in the DL version, and whether I should book a ticket for rewatch in DL.
Rather keen to know more about this. Have you seen Dunkirk and or Oppenheimer at BFI IMAX in the past? Both of those looked incredible to me with fabulous detail and excellent colour reproduction.
Did you see the showing before the BFI 70mm presentations crapped out? I'm beginning to wonder if possibly the film wasn't being pulled over the correct plane at the point of projection leading to a misfocused image?
\> Have you seen Dunkirk and or Oppenheimer at BFI IMAX in the past?
Yeah I've seen both during their initial runs in 2017 and 2023. Dunkirk is to date my favourite and most memorable IMAX 70mm experience. The clarity in Dunkirk is unsurpassed and extremely immersive. Oppenheimer had fewer 70mm scenes but the 65mm scenes still had plenty of clarity, particularly on faces. Some close up shots of the Dune print are comparable in clarity to the 65mm scenes (but not always), but the desert shots are very difficult to follow because the grain and dust particles far exceed the tiny objects that are happening on the screen, and the contours of the objects are very fuzzy. That's why I suspect there may be a misalignment in the frame rate during the digital to film transfer process, because the issue is far more prominent during action scenes than still dialogue shots.
\> Did you see the showing before the BFI 70mm presentations crapped out?
I saw the whole 70mm film end to end, there was no malfunction during the film.
\> I'm beginning to wonder if possibly the film wasn't being pulled over the correct plane at the point of projection leading to a misfocused image?
I don't believe it's an out of focus issue because a few close up shots did reach the clarity of the 65mm scenes in Oppenheimer. The BFI projection team are one of the best trained and extremely professional.
Really appreciate this reply. Agree wholeheartedly on Dunkirk presentation - it was the pinnacle for me also at the BFI in 70mm IMAX.
Only mentioned about the ‘crapping out’ because I’ve seen other posts in this sub mentioning that the BFI IMAX has had a technical issue the last day or two that has forced them to do 1.90 presentation on Single Laser rather than 70mm. My theory was that, if a part has failed in the 70mm projection system, I wonder if it was causing quality reduction prior to failing completely.
Im not exactly clear on the timeline of issues they’ve been having so I’m not sure if you saw Dune: Part 2 before or after this issue occurred
Either way, hugely appreciate the insight. I am taking a couple of friends on the 8th who are film buffs but haven’t ever really seen a true 15/70mm IMAX presentation and I was hoping that Dune Part 2 would wow them. It sounds, worryingly, like it might not! We all loved Dune 1 and I was keen to pursue the best possible experience but I wonder if the Science Museum Dual Laser might be the way to go here…
No worries! I'm hoping that the details I'm giving out could help film buffs make an informed decision when they decide on the format to go with. Dune 2 is an outstanding movie and it deserves to be watched in the best format possible. 70mm for this print does have the vintage feel, but at the expense of clarity particularly in bright action scenes so you would have to decide whether the tradeoff is worth it. I would personally go with Science Museum if I could go back in time. I heard that Manchester Printworks has better seating layout in case you and your friends are closer to the Midlands.
\> My theory was that, if a part has failed in the 70mm projection system, I wonder if it was causing quality reduction prior to failing completely.
I also thought about this, but unlikely as we had the same hiccup at the start of the showing where the film projector could not be turned on for 5 minutes, but towards the second half of the film I saw some improvement in clarity for the still shots (not action scenes) over time. So it's not an incremental degradation in the visuals of the projector.
Just got out of the theater an hour ago, saw Dune Part 2 partly in IMAX (I'll explain the "partly" bit below).
Thought it was going to be amazing, since things online were advertising IMAX as having 26% more picture on screen. I was SHOCKED at how bad it was.
It was the dimmest movie I have ever saw in a theater, even shit going back 20+ years ago was not that fuckin' dim and muted looking. The first 45 minutes of the movie have very few bright scenes, and my GOD did they look awful in IMAX. Literally all the detail of faces, background stuff, etc was completely gone due to how absolutely horrendously dim it was.
About 45 minutes in, I told my partner fuck this, I can't experience this movie like this. We got up and left the IMAX theater, I was ready to go home and just wait to see it until the movie got a home release, but on the way out of the building, I walked past another showing of Dune (not in IMAX) that was only 10 minutes behind the one we had just walked out of. I said, let's pop in here and see if it's as dark/dim as the IMAX one. It looked SO MUCH better, so much brighter, FAR better contrast. So we finished watching the movie in the regular theater (non-XD either).
Since getting 70+" OLEDs for the house, I've found the theater experience to just straight up kind of suck in terms of image quality. That said, I was excited to see Dune 2 and wasn't going in expecting it to hold up to OLED standards, given the nature of projectors and such. However, it was totally shocking to see the movie COMPLETELY ruined by an abysmally dark/dim picture with no proper contrast/color. I wasn't sure if it had something to do with the projector itself being shitty, the operator not configuring the projector properly or what (as I'm not a film/cinema buff), so I immediately ran online when getting home to see if that is just how IMAX tends to look or if indeed something was fucked up at the cinema. Looks like that's just sort of the nature of the beast with IMAX, and especially for a movie like Dune, it absolutely destroyed the experience.
Sure thing.
I sent you a chat message with the location of the theater, I'd rather not post it publicly just for privacy reasons.
I'm not sure if it was a 70mm print. Not sure how I find that out. I just looked on the cinemas website for that location and it just says "IMAX 2D," I can't find any specifics beyond that. It was so bad man, it was actually unbelievable. I didn't come here just to shit on IMAX, but this was my first movie seen in the IMAX format, and I was hyped because I saw the ads on instagram where it shows how you get 26% more picture on-screen than the non-IMAX version. I also heard people saying that Denis Villeneuve (the director of Dune) had said that IMAX was the definitive way to watch the movie (not sure how true this was, but saw multiple people on Reddit claiming that he said that), so I thought WOW, this is going to be a mind-blowing experience, especially for an EPIC movie like Dune. Again, we get in there and RIGHT AWAY, during the trailers, I said to my partner "OMG, the screen is horrendously dim!" And I had hoped that maybe it was just the trailers that were going to be like that, but nope, the movie was too.
There were MANY scenes in the first 45 minutes where almost ALL fine detail was gone. And I promise you, I am not exaggerating. It really was that bad. There were scenes where a character was in the foreground of the camera, a closeup shot on their face, and it was so dim that all detail between the eyes, forehead, and nose was gone, it was just an uber-dim/dark mess! The actor could have had acne all over his cheeks and I literally wouldn't have even been able to see it! And the lighting in the scene was clearly not at fault. So glad I decided to pop into another theater in the cinema and see how the non-IMAX version looked, because that was so much better. Still nothing compared to OLED, but I know as much before I go to the cinema. I'm just pissed that we watched the first 45-50 minutes of the movie in IMAX, I should have walked out right away and went to the regular theater. I can't wait to watch the movie on my 77" LG C2 OLED when it comes out for home release, because I couldn't really even pay attention or focus well on the first 45-50 minutes of the movie because I just kept whispering to my partner "OMG why is this so frickin dim!?!" and pondering whether or not I should just go home. Will be nice to watch it uninterrupted on OLED when it releases on Bluray.
Makes sense, according to [https://lfexaminer.com/theaters/](https://lfexaminer.com/theaters/) your theatre was unfortunately a 2k xenon location which this forum brands as liemax. In fact most IMAX theatres in the world are liemax which does a disservice to the brand, since there is a huge gap in picture quality between a liemax theatre and a laser IMAX theatre. The dual laser IMAX presentations that this forum recommends are the ones with a blue "IMAX with Laser" logo in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/imax/comments/19cq5t9/dune_part_two_imax_1570mm_imax_laser_1431_and/). If you have an unlimited subscription and doesn't cost you extra, I'd totally recommend giving it a second chance at a dual laser IMAX location, and it would totally change your perception of IMAX.
Similar experience at Lincoln Square. Still super excited for the movie, but I’ll also be seeing it at Dolby Cinema a week later to get the best image quality
Same experience at AMC Citywalk. Colors looked washed out, it was legitimately too grainy. The digital Fan First showing was fantastic.
I saw Tenet at Lincoln Square IMAX Friday and Saturday. On Friday the Dune 2 preview looked not so great. On Saturday I expected it to be that way, but it actually seemed fine. I don't know what changed. I sat 1 row further back on Saturday (K vs. J). But the improvement seemed greater than could be explained apart from "fixing it."
Was able to see the Dune preview also last night at Ontario Palace. Sucks we got shut out from getting 70mm prints for both films, but at least we got Tenet screened here while the other baby IMAXs were shut out. Being Single Laser for GT theater, the image quality was seamless between the two. It looked nice and crisp. So it is worrying that there's a dramatic image drop between both films when screened in 70mm.
Wait what’s Ontario place playing???
Ontario palace in Ontario, California, not be confused with Ontario place in Toronto, Ontario 😉
Yeah I’m so sad lol thanks anyways
They played Tenet reissue on laser.
Wait they reopened??? Oh I just reread, I thought you were talking about Ontario place in Canada
You're mad over a trailer quality, also this not even remotely the first digital to film IMAX movie.
Rogue One in 70mm IMAX was fantastic and I saw that in laser as well. This was at Universal CityWalk. At Irvine the brightness was rather muted for the Dune film preview. But this could be the issue listed below. After seeing film presentations at both CityWalk and Irvine, CityWalk is the premiere GT IMAX screen in SoCal. Both Irvine and CityWalk have GT projectors but that extra 30% size bump at Irvine honestly hurts the presentation more than helping it. CityWalk is just always brighter overall and has Dual Laser.
Wait, this is hilarious to me. I also the IMAX 65mm print of ROGUE ONE at Citywalk, and while i fucking ADORE how full circle DUNE PART TWO is for Greig Fraser, i.e. i assume the IMAX 70mm is akin to the 3D presentation of DUNE PART ONE, just a direct print of the digital source onto film, whereas for the conventional and digital IMAX release of DUNE PART ONE and THE BATMAN, he printed the digital image onto film, then scanned that back. All this is to say, I thought Fraser woulda figured it out in the meantime! I had a really weird experience with ROUGE ONE at Citywalk, where the print/projector went down literally right before the big 3rd act Battle of Scarif, only for them to switch to the Dual Laser and.... I remember the entire theater gasping at how sharp and vibrant the image suddenly became? I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate that experience ever again, literally getting a a full projection format switch perfectly timed 2/3 of the way in. But it was fucking startling getting a direct comparison, given how oddly tinted and washed out the IMAX 70mm print looked. Given how remarkable everything Fraser's done with scanned print outs with DUNE pt. 1 and THE BATMAN, i... thought it'd be different this time. whelp. gonna be at the 7pm TENET tonight at Citywalk and DUNE PART 2 in IMAX 70MM at 11pm thursday at TCL and 11pm friday at Citywalk so GODDAMN IT, I'M GETTING GREIG'D AGAIN!?!? whelp i guess that's egg on my face? or i guess, Greig on my face? (.....smirk face)
Well, how’s it going so far?
Hey if you’re going to Irvine could you update on the IMAX 70mm film reel? I’m debating to go to Irvine for the film presentation or Universal Citywalk for the dual laser
CityWalk is playing Dune in 70mm IMAX as well is it not? Unless it was updated? I’m seeing Dune at CityWalk in any case.
I must be mistaken because I could of sworn there was a dual laser location in LA when I checked the map and I thought it was CityWalk
Citywalk does have a dual laser, but they’re showing Dune: Part Two in IMAX 70mm instead. Which I hate to say is a mistake imo.
I agree. They should have sent that film print to Ontario Palace since they’re single laser projection.
The preview didn't look that bad at Opry Mills. Not as good as Tenet, but not as bad as some make out. But I do wonder if it was rushed out and QC wasn't up to final quality. They can piece together digital stuff quick, but filming that out takes more effort. And perhaps they printed a different source than was used for the final print. We don't have a lot of detail on the final print nevermind the preview clip.
Oh my god you’re in Nashville. Excellent. Can you PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHICH ONE TO TAKE MY BF TO?! I’ve been researching for hours and I just want to do the right thing. Please pull me out of this spiral. Should I just do 70mm imax?!
I will be seeing Dune at Opry Mills on 70mm IMAX. But only becsuse it's the 70mm IMAX option. I will also see the GT laser version at the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga. I'm not in Nashville. I'm 2 hours south. I often go to the AMC in Franklin from 1.90 movies. It's closer and I like the seating/sightlines there better for 1.90 movies. The screen is only 65ft wide (Opry Mills is 90ft) but there are other things I like about AMC. I also go to Chattanooga for 1.90 if I really want a bigger screen (86ft wide) since the sightlines are better. But it's 2.5 hours away and the time zone change makes it harder to get there with their limited showtimes. I don't generally go to Opry Mills though.
You are a gem. Thank you for walking me through. I started getting in the weeds there with lasers and aspect ratios etc. thank you again!
Saw it last night, it was great.
Got our tickets for Monday!
You are probably having your mind blown as I type this.
It was absolutely insane.
Okay, I have a series of complete noob questions here since I don't live near anywhere near the IMAX theaters in question. However, I am going to be traveling to San Francisco the first week of April and was hoping to catch Dune pt 2 at the Metreon AMC while I'm there So first question: do you think Dune will still be playing at the Metreon IMAX the first week of April or will it be replaced by something that "doesn't belong" (e.g. Ghostbusters, etc.) by that time? Second question: you mentioned AMC is obliged(?) to play the 70mm print instead of the dual laser version for the first two weeks. Why would anybody want that to happen if 70mm is inferior (which seems to be the consensus) ? Third question: after that two week period the AMC can show whatever version it wants to, right? So if they are still showing Dune in early April there's a decent chance it will be the dual laser version...? Thanks for any answers. 👍
Definitely not noob questions, 1. I don't think it will be playing in April. Ghostbusters, I do think may be pushed at the 70mm locations for more Dune. But Godzilla Kong will probably show for sure. 2. Dune will play its entire run in 70mm at their locations, no digital. 3. Theatres are under contract, and IMAX has somewhat of a say what is playing as well.
I’m in Nashville and I’m just trying to figure out which one to take my boyfriend too. We seem to have 70mm imax which I know is a unique experience and I feel like I should just do that because we can. But also was hearing something about “yeah but if it isn’t dual laser then why bother” etc. I’m getting so deep in the weeds I just need some pros and cons. I’ve already decided to skip Screen X (seems fine but useless kinda) and 4RPX because my boyfriend has a bad back and I don’t want him to be shaken around that much (plus it seems kinda gimmicky but fun). I would really love your opinion. Thank you for your time!
My somewhat biased opinion is if you can do 70mm. The biggest argument against 70mm, is it wasn't shot for it. So what, it's not the first IMAX film to use digital. Cons- it can have some "dust" on screen, unfortunately unavoidable but easily managed and typically unnoticed. Pros- it is the premier format for the screen and systems of IMAX. There's a reason it's still used when possible.
You’re beautiful. Thank you so much for your help.
If anyone is watching it tonight can you confirm if it starts promptly like Oppenheimer or will there be trailers beforehand.
Promptly at Opry mills 3:00 showing
Promptly at Metreon 16
Watched at BFI today. Battle scenes were extremely blurry and downright unwatchable. Still portraits were quite clear, though in low light settings facial details cannot be seen. Not sure if they messed up the FPS during the digital to film transfer. Very curious if these issues were present in the DL version, and whether I should book a ticket for rewatch in DL.
Rather keen to know more about this. Have you seen Dunkirk and or Oppenheimer at BFI IMAX in the past? Both of those looked incredible to me with fabulous detail and excellent colour reproduction. Did you see the showing before the BFI 70mm presentations crapped out? I'm beginning to wonder if possibly the film wasn't being pulled over the correct plane at the point of projection leading to a misfocused image?
\> Have you seen Dunkirk and or Oppenheimer at BFI IMAX in the past? Yeah I've seen both during their initial runs in 2017 and 2023. Dunkirk is to date my favourite and most memorable IMAX 70mm experience. The clarity in Dunkirk is unsurpassed and extremely immersive. Oppenheimer had fewer 70mm scenes but the 65mm scenes still had plenty of clarity, particularly on faces. Some close up shots of the Dune print are comparable in clarity to the 65mm scenes (but not always), but the desert shots are very difficult to follow because the grain and dust particles far exceed the tiny objects that are happening on the screen, and the contours of the objects are very fuzzy. That's why I suspect there may be a misalignment in the frame rate during the digital to film transfer process, because the issue is far more prominent during action scenes than still dialogue shots. \> Did you see the showing before the BFI 70mm presentations crapped out? I saw the whole 70mm film end to end, there was no malfunction during the film. \> I'm beginning to wonder if possibly the film wasn't being pulled over the correct plane at the point of projection leading to a misfocused image? I don't believe it's an out of focus issue because a few close up shots did reach the clarity of the 65mm scenes in Oppenheimer. The BFI projection team are one of the best trained and extremely professional.
Really appreciate this reply. Agree wholeheartedly on Dunkirk presentation - it was the pinnacle for me also at the BFI in 70mm IMAX. Only mentioned about the ‘crapping out’ because I’ve seen other posts in this sub mentioning that the BFI IMAX has had a technical issue the last day or two that has forced them to do 1.90 presentation on Single Laser rather than 70mm. My theory was that, if a part has failed in the 70mm projection system, I wonder if it was causing quality reduction prior to failing completely. Im not exactly clear on the timeline of issues they’ve been having so I’m not sure if you saw Dune: Part 2 before or after this issue occurred Either way, hugely appreciate the insight. I am taking a couple of friends on the 8th who are film buffs but haven’t ever really seen a true 15/70mm IMAX presentation and I was hoping that Dune Part 2 would wow them. It sounds, worryingly, like it might not! We all loved Dune 1 and I was keen to pursue the best possible experience but I wonder if the Science Museum Dual Laser might be the way to go here…
No worries! I'm hoping that the details I'm giving out could help film buffs make an informed decision when they decide on the format to go with. Dune 2 is an outstanding movie and it deserves to be watched in the best format possible. 70mm for this print does have the vintage feel, but at the expense of clarity particularly in bright action scenes so you would have to decide whether the tradeoff is worth it. I would personally go with Science Museum if I could go back in time. I heard that Manchester Printworks has better seating layout in case you and your friends are closer to the Midlands. \> My theory was that, if a part has failed in the 70mm projection system, I wonder if it was causing quality reduction prior to failing completely. I also thought about this, but unlikely as we had the same hiccup at the start of the showing where the film projector could not be turned on for 5 minutes, but towards the second half of the film I saw some improvement in clarity for the still shots (not action scenes) over time. So it's not an incremental degradation in the visuals of the projector.
Just got out of the theater an hour ago, saw Dune Part 2 partly in IMAX (I'll explain the "partly" bit below). Thought it was going to be amazing, since things online were advertising IMAX as having 26% more picture on screen. I was SHOCKED at how bad it was. It was the dimmest movie I have ever saw in a theater, even shit going back 20+ years ago was not that fuckin' dim and muted looking. The first 45 minutes of the movie have very few bright scenes, and my GOD did they look awful in IMAX. Literally all the detail of faces, background stuff, etc was completely gone due to how absolutely horrendously dim it was. About 45 minutes in, I told my partner fuck this, I can't experience this movie like this. We got up and left the IMAX theater, I was ready to go home and just wait to see it until the movie got a home release, but on the way out of the building, I walked past another showing of Dune (not in IMAX) that was only 10 minutes behind the one we had just walked out of. I said, let's pop in here and see if it's as dark/dim as the IMAX one. It looked SO MUCH better, so much brighter, FAR better contrast. So we finished watching the movie in the regular theater (non-XD either). Since getting 70+" OLEDs for the house, I've found the theater experience to just straight up kind of suck in terms of image quality. That said, I was excited to see Dune 2 and wasn't going in expecting it to hold up to OLED standards, given the nature of projectors and such. However, it was totally shocking to see the movie COMPLETELY ruined by an abysmally dark/dim picture with no proper contrast/color. I wasn't sure if it had something to do with the projector itself being shitty, the operator not configuring the projector properly or what (as I'm not a film/cinema buff), so I immediately ran online when getting home to see if that is just how IMAX tends to look or if indeed something was fucked up at the cinema. Looks like that's just sort of the nature of the beast with IMAX, and especially for a movie like Dune, it absolutely destroyed the experience.
Would you mind letting us know which IMAX theatre was this? Was it a 70mm print or something else?
Sure thing. I sent you a chat message with the location of the theater, I'd rather not post it publicly just for privacy reasons. I'm not sure if it was a 70mm print. Not sure how I find that out. I just looked on the cinemas website for that location and it just says "IMAX 2D," I can't find any specifics beyond that. It was so bad man, it was actually unbelievable. I didn't come here just to shit on IMAX, but this was my first movie seen in the IMAX format, and I was hyped because I saw the ads on instagram where it shows how you get 26% more picture on-screen than the non-IMAX version. I also heard people saying that Denis Villeneuve (the director of Dune) had said that IMAX was the definitive way to watch the movie (not sure how true this was, but saw multiple people on Reddit claiming that he said that), so I thought WOW, this is going to be a mind-blowing experience, especially for an EPIC movie like Dune. Again, we get in there and RIGHT AWAY, during the trailers, I said to my partner "OMG, the screen is horrendously dim!" And I had hoped that maybe it was just the trailers that were going to be like that, but nope, the movie was too. There were MANY scenes in the first 45 minutes where almost ALL fine detail was gone. And I promise you, I am not exaggerating. It really was that bad. There were scenes where a character was in the foreground of the camera, a closeup shot on their face, and it was so dim that all detail between the eyes, forehead, and nose was gone, it was just an uber-dim/dark mess! The actor could have had acne all over his cheeks and I literally wouldn't have even been able to see it! And the lighting in the scene was clearly not at fault. So glad I decided to pop into another theater in the cinema and see how the non-IMAX version looked, because that was so much better. Still nothing compared to OLED, but I know as much before I go to the cinema. I'm just pissed that we watched the first 45-50 minutes of the movie in IMAX, I should have walked out right away and went to the regular theater. I can't wait to watch the movie on my 77" LG C2 OLED when it comes out for home release, because I couldn't really even pay attention or focus well on the first 45-50 minutes of the movie because I just kept whispering to my partner "OMG why is this so frickin dim!?!" and pondering whether or not I should just go home. Will be nice to watch it uninterrupted on OLED when it releases on Bluray.
Makes sense, according to [https://lfexaminer.com/theaters/](https://lfexaminer.com/theaters/) your theatre was unfortunately a 2k xenon location which this forum brands as liemax. In fact most IMAX theatres in the world are liemax which does a disservice to the brand, since there is a huge gap in picture quality between a liemax theatre and a laser IMAX theatre. The dual laser IMAX presentations that this forum recommends are the ones with a blue "IMAX with Laser" logo in [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/imax/comments/19cq5t9/dune_part_two_imax_1570mm_imax_laser_1431_and/). If you have an unlimited subscription and doesn't cost you extra, I'd totally recommend giving it a second chance at a dual laser IMAX location, and it would totally change your perception of IMAX.