TAT WOLFEN
STER-KINEKOR has just opened the fifth of the country’s new cycle of IMAX theatres – following Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth.
This latest entry is at the Cradlestone Mall in Krugersdorp, which means that IMAX is creeping closer to Joburg’s northern suburbs – and isn’t that much of a schlep to get to. For the enthusiastic northern suburber suffering from IMAX envy, it’s a mere hop, skip and a jump away.
Presiding over the plush auditorium’s opening ceremonies, in his usual unassuming fashion, was Giovanni Dolci, the IMAX Corporation’s UK-based vice-president of theatre development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He explained to guests that movies don’t just become IMAX movies at the drop of a hat.
The decision needs to be taken in the planning stages of the film and followed all the way through. First prize is for the film to be shot wholly with IMAX cameras. Films – or parts of films – that aren’t shot that way need to be upgraded to IMAX standards using IMAX’s patented digital remastering system, DMR.
What a lot of people don’t know is that even the sound is uniquely and separately mixed for IMAX films, as the entire IMAX auditorium is a controlled and carefully designed viewing space – built “to spec”, and requiring a soundtrack that is also mixed “to spec”.
John Sikiotis, Ster-Kinekor’s chief executive, like the IMAX chief, kept his speech mercifully short, but affirmed his company’s belief in this exciting format, and its commitment to rolling out more such venues.
The movie that launches SterKinekor’s proud new addition is Terminator: Genisys, although the most impressive moments at this inaugural screening occurred, for me, during the trailer of the upcoming The Walk, about the Frenchman who performed an illegal tightrope walk between the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Centre.
This movie needs to be seen in IMAX, and I will entertain no discussion on the topic!
PICTURES: TWMP
Ster-Kinekor’s next IMAX theatre will be at Eastgate’s brand-new cineplex, which opens in October.
It will be a ground-up, purposebuilt theatre, as opposed to a “retrofit”, so we’re expecting the steep rake, or “stadium seating”, that makes IMAX a truly immersive experience.
It will also, we’re told, boast the largest screen of these newgeneration IMAX theatres, so IMAXophiles – such as yours truly – have high hopes.