Folks prefer films in 2-D
REMEMBER those old 3-D glasses to see IMAX? Now they’re gone.
Richard Gelfond: “We don’t like that anymore. They lost their popularity. Now the preference is for 2-D. China and Russia still see it in 3-D and still use glasses.”
Not knowing what the-hell he’s talking about, I first asked who he is.
“I’m IMAX’s CEO. Once I was a sportswriter, banker, lawyer, ran small companies, did lots of things. Then I heard about this. Thinking it’s a dream, a new way to watch movies, I bought the company and took it public in ’94.”
The theater at 68th & Broadway previewed “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” with an IMAX option. In the crowd, Hillary’s fund-raiser Alan Patricof and Patrick
McMullan, who even photographed the original Tyrannosaurus.
Gelfond, who was at this thing with his wife, Peggy Bonapace: “Our new image size is intense. You feel you’re in the actual movie. Your eye can shop where to look. A regular movie’s within peripheral vision. Here, with five dinosaurs you actually see all five.
“It’s like flying first class or coach. Coach you see only inches ahead of you. First class you see all around. IMAX shows you more. The white’s whiter, red’s redder. And you see what you want to see — not just the lead character whom the director’s focusing on. You see all around. More stuff ’s happening on the screen — the bottom, the sides, you’re not constrained.
“And we’re now doing it with content from top filmmakers — J.J. Abrams, Spielberg, Damien Chazelle, Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Avengers,’ ‘Avatar.’ We’re rolling this out worldwide. The ‘Star Wars’ opening in London. Blockbuster events that want to be on IMAX. We’re doing the Eiffel Tower in July.
“Listen, it’s 1,500 theaters, 80 countries a $1 billion-a-year operation.”
Mr. Gelfond, a New Yorker, is obviously very smart. He did not eat the theater’s really crappy popcorn.