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In a tiny private theater in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, filmmaker Douglas Trumbull is screening one of his latest creations. At first, the movie looks familiar: it's footage of astronaut Chris Hadfield singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in a clip that went viral on YouTube a couple of years ago. But halfway through the song, the film shifts from Hadfield strumming his guitar in the International Space Station to 3-D shots of planets and stars so detailed that I feel as though I'm on the ISS itself, looking through its cupola windows. A huge image of Earth fills my field of view and begins rotating. I'm wearing 3-D glasses, but the picture is far brighter and sharper than is typical in 3-D movies. Next to me, people mumble things like "Completely unreal" and "Awesome."
This is Magi, a system that captures images in 3-D and "4K" ultrahigh resolution and displays the resulting frames at five times the usual rate. Trumbull developed the technology as a way to create movie experiences more immersive than regular 3-D or giant-screen IMAX—and restore the joy of going out to the movies.
[...] The movie industry could use some magic. North American box office receipts have been relatively flat for years. Many consumers prefer the convenience and affordability of watching movies on their TVs and mobile devices, especially since manufacturers keep developing sharper, brighter, more color-accurate screens.
To develop something far better, Trumbull built a studio on his sprawling Berkshires property; hired a multitasking crew that ranges from four to 50 people, depending on the project; and produced a series of demos that tested new cinematic techniques, such as how to combine different frame rates and resolution levels in one movie. On top of all that, he has created a new type of movie theater optimized for showing Magi films.
Presumably, not showing 45 minutes of TV commercials before the feature is not on the list of things that could bring some magic back to the movie industry...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 08 2016, @01:52AM
My reason for not going is disposable income.
For a not too out of line sum of money can have a 60+ inch screen with a decent enough speaker setup to go with it.
If I 'just want to see a movie' netflix is not terrible not great but very watchable. If I want good quality bluray is usually pretty awesome. Plus if I have to piss, refill my drink, whatever, I can pause/stop it. Usual cost per movie zero to 10 bucks. Plus whatever snacks I have at home. I know exactly what to buy to get 'the movie theater' type popcorn. Though recently I have been using real butter instead which yields a different taste. But that is just 'mood'. I can buy the exact same candy for 1/5th the price and in bigger packages.
Now with a theater the experience is not much better. But for 2 adults at a non matinee showing expect to drop 50 bucks which includes snacks. You expose yourself to possible rude people. 90% of the time it does not happen but it does happen more than you like.
So I bought a better experience because I have disposable income. My wife and I watch at least 1 movie per night. That would be well over 18k for both of us to goto the theater every night. For a smallish upfront cost of 2-3k we have a very nice setup and more DVDs/Blurays than we can ever watch and a amazing selection of movies to chose from. We can chose from any movie for the past 100 years and have it delivered within 1-2 days. Or goto the theater and pick from maybe 2-3 that we actually care to see.
We still go once and awhile (1 - 2 times per year). But nothing like when we were younger and had less income.