Now to make the film’s massive theatrical conversion official, we are getting a trailer for the IMAX release, as well as a nifty hand-drawn poster to celebrate the IMAX release. Check both of them out here below.
Note, nothing new has been added to Raiders; the only thing that is being changed is the fact that the film is being converted from its original 35mm format to the 70mm IMAX format. Basically it’s going to be a bigger and louder version of its 35mm screen predecessor, not that anything is wrong with that. But if there was anything to get to you watch the film in IMAX, AMC Theaters may just have it. In addition to the IMAX release, AMC theaters will also have an Indiana Jones movie marathon on Saturday, September 15th starting at 10:30am, that will show all four films, a collectable poster and lanyard, and $5 Bonus Bucks for AMC Stub members. All of that can be yours for $25 dollars. (Click here for participating theaters.)
In an interview with Yahoo, Spielberg said that he was hesitant about converting the film into IMAX, but when the conversion was complete, he was “blown away.” Here’s the exact quote:
“I didn’t know if the 1981 print would stand up to a full IMAX transfer, so I came expecting a sort of grainy, muddy, and overly enlarged representation of the movie I had made [31] years ago. And I was blown away by the fact that it looked better than the movie I had made [31] years ago.”
He was even surprised that the IMAX upgrade increased the visual quality of the film:
All the shadows in the earlier scenes that we shot in Hawaii [were] always kind of muddy anyway on 35mm, because we couldn’t schlep all of our big arc lights down into this valley. Suddenly, there was definition in the shadows, which I had never seen before. And the shadows weren’t murky and washed out; they were sharp as a tack.
This assures us that there is a clear reason to see this film in IMAX from a technical stand point. But I’m sure that fans of Spielberg’s work and the Indiana Jones franchise would still love to see the film in IMAX regardless of the kinds of changes that the film went through. Raiders of the Lost Ark will open in IMAX theaters on September 7th of this year.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
