MOVIE TRAILERS

'Raiders of the Lost Ark' IMAX Trailer, Poster & Indy Movie Marathon!

by Ethan Anderton
August 15, 2012
Source: Yahoo

Just yesterday we learned that an IMAX re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark was planned in both both digital "LieMAX" and 70mm film formats starting on September 7th and running for a good week until September 13th. The 1981 classic, which has been restored for the impending Blu-Ray release has been inspected and approved by Steven Spielberg. Now a new trailer promoting the special IMAX release has been unleashed and it gets my giddy with excitement. But that's not all. AMC Theatres is also promoting the Blu-Ray with a marathon of all four Indiana Jones movies on September 15th. Details below!

First, here's the trailer for the IMAX re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark from Yahoo:

Plus, if an IMAX version of Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark just isn't enough for you, AMC Theatres is planning a one day marathon of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on September 15th. Tickets are only $25 and you can find out which theaters are hosting the event right here. Buy your tickets, watch the first three films and then just make fun of the last one with everyone else. Have your own Mystery Science Theaters 3000 party.

Yahoo also had a quick chat with Steven Spielberg about the IMAX conversion and he was a bit hesitant at first. The iconic filmmaker and director of every single Indiana Jones film said:

"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."

Apparently the new IMAX version has even fixed some of the flaws of the 35mm version of the film. Spielberg explains:

"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. I sat there, I think, probably with my mouth open a little wider than it normally is."

More reassurance and good news for fans of Spielberg's work comes straight from the horse's mouth as the director confirms that there are not any digital tweaks or fixes to any problems or mistakes in the film aside from the improvement of the image quality from the 35mm version to 70mm for IMAX. Spielberg likely learned his lesson from the changes he made to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial back in the day, not to mention the uproar his friend and colleague George Lucas caused by constantly messing with the Star Wars saga.

And for those thinking that this re-release might mean a 3D release sometime down the road, Spielberg thankfully says, "I wouldn't be interested in doing 'Raiders' in 3D because 'Raiders' is not really a modern movie. I don't see it popping out at me.  I think the film is dynamic enough without having to lay on a 3D conversion process." Plus the director says IMAX makes the film pop just fine by itself without 3D, especially in the infamous boulder running scene, "You'll see it full size, and you'll feel it in your stomach." Spielberg also notes that Jurassic Park is the only film he has allowed to be converted to 3D, so don't expect anymore coming soon in the third dimension.

However, Spielberg does say that he might consider bringing back another one of his films for IMAX:

"I think the only other movie I would ever think about going out on an IMAX screen would be 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' Forty percent of that film was shot in 70 millimeters, so the conversion would look extraordinary if we ever did put it up on an IMAX screen."

The future also looks bright for Spielberg and IMAX as well as the filmmaker reveals that his next project an adaptation of Robopocalypse, will be testing shooting in IMAX very soon. Spielberg says, "I'm going to do an IMAX camera test, [both] a 2 and 3D test for my next movie Robopocalypse, and I haven't decided whether I'm going to use the IMAX cameras, and I haven't decided whether it's going to be 2D or 3D yet, but I am in September going to start doing some tests." A Spielberg sci-fi action flick shot in IMAX? Great!

In the meantime, I can't wait to see Raiders of the Lost Ark in glorious 70mm film on the IMAX screen. Spielberg basically puts it best and captures my giddiness of the exciting event this September saying, "We went on an adventure to make an adventure, and we were kids then. I think whenever I'm around the Indiana Jones series in any way, it makes me feel the way I felt in 1980 when I made the picture. For me, the movie is a little bit of a fountain of youth." Right there with you, Mr. Spielberg.

Update: This Drew Struzan-styled exclusive poster for the IMAX release just surfaced at Fandango:

Filed under Events, Feat, To Watch, Trailers

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