SAN ANTONIO — Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour may have skipped San Antonio, but filmmaker Christopher Nolan isn't.
The likely minimal overlap between both audiences aside, fans of the uber-successful Hollywood director might very well flock here from other cities or even states when his latest film, "Oppenheimer," opens on July 21. That's because the AMC Rivercenter is one of just two places in Texas – and one of just 19 theaters in the entire U.S. – preparing to screen the much-anticipated drama in rare IMAX 70mm format.
That's likely not to mean very much for most moviegoers planning to see Nolan's story about the origins of the atomic bomb, but it's cinematic catnip for cinephiles. In non-technical terms, 70mm is regarded as the best-possible projection for films; frames are more than three times larger than typical celluloid, allowing for more detail, color and, in some cases, actual image to make it on the screen.
The short version: Shelling out a few extra bucks for "Oppenheimer" in 70mm is likely to afford you a more astounding cinematic experience. Other theaters will still be offering the movie in other large-format options, like IMAX digital.
The premium viewing experience for Nolan's latest is already proving to be a successful draw for the Alamo City: Both of Thursday night's IMAX 70mm screenings are sold out a few days out from the film's release, as are most evening showings the rest of opening weekend, while others are categorized by AMC's website as "Almost Full." Regular 70mm screenings will be available around town, but those won't be in the IMAX aspect ratio.
The 70mm format is typically reserved for visually lush epics, and was utilized frequently in the late-1900s. But with digital increasingly becoming the dominant way to shoot and project movies, fewer and fewer theaters are even equipped to screen 70mm films—let alone 70mm in IMAX, where the grandiosity the format affords can be on full display. (For one thing, the "Oppenheimer" IMAX prints are 11 miles long and weigh 600 pounds.)
The format makes sense for a film like "Oppenheimer," which depicts the production of a cataclysmic wartime weapon and is directed by a filmmaker with a reputation for mind-blowing imagery. Most recently, Jordan Peele's UFO mystery "Nope" and the James Bond adventure "No Time To Die" were other major U.S. releases to screen in 70mm in select locations.
Nolan is passionate about the premiere projection format to a degree that few Hollywood figures are in the 21st century; so enthusiastic is the "Dark Knight" and "Inception" director about the theatrical experience that he famously (or infamously, depending on who you ask) pushed for his last film "Tenet" to open in cinemas in 2020, despite the raging pandemic.
Bigger audiences are likely to turn out for "Oppenheimer," which is expected to be one of the summer's most-discussed films, if not one of its most successful. Movie fans in the Alamo City and surrounding communities can snag their own tickets to IMAX 70mm showings now.
The other Texas location set to screen the film in IMAX 70mm is Cinemark 17 in Dallas
>TRENDING ON KENS 5 YOUTUBE:
