New entertainment and shopping center Blockbuster opened Sept. 20, bringing brand new entertainment to Kyiv and all of Ukraine – IMAX 3D theater.
Three decades later than Americans and five years later than Russians, we can now fully assess the technology, which has generated the term “effect of presence.”
Imagine the difference between watching a film at home on video and the same film at a 35mm cinema. The film might be the same, but the experience couldn’t be more different. The contrast between traditional cinema and the giant IMAX screen is even bigger. A standard IMAX screen is 22 meters wide and 16.1 meters high. The height of such a screen can be easily compared to a seven-story building. It is specifically designed to “include” a human’s peripheral eyesight and, at the same time, big enough to demonstrate a whale in its real-life size. If you project a standard format film onto such a screen, you’d get a granular picture with grains the size of apples. Therefore IMAX dramatically increases the resolution of the image by using film stock with a resolution comparable to about 70 megapixels – the resolution eight times bigger than that of 2D cinema systems. The increased resolution allows the audience to be “much closer” to the screen.
The IMAX system has its roots in 1967, when a small group of Canadian filmmakers decided to design a new system using a single, powerful projector rather than the massive multiple projectors commonly in use at that time. Thus the IMAX motion picture projection system which would revolutionize giant screen cinema was created and presented in Osaka, Japan in 1970. Now there are about 300 IMAX theaters in almost 38 countries, 60 percent of these located in Canada and the U.S., seven in Poland and three in Russia.
Now many Hollywood films, including the two “Matrix” sequels, fifth “Harry Potter” and the animated movie “The Polar Express” have been premastered for IMAX in 3D. But the first ever action film that has been partially shot using IMAX cameras is Batman’s sequel “The Dark Knight” which features six scenes, including Joker/Heath Ledger’s monologue (total – 30 minutes) shot using IMAX technology. Now IMAX is extremely popular around the world because of 3D movies. To create an illusion of three-dimensional vision, the IMAX uses two camera lenses to represent the left and right eye and projecting them simultaneously for seeing a 3D image on a 2D screen. To see a 3D image, you need to wear polarizing glasses, handed out to every viewer upon entrance to the cinema hall. IMAX is indeed an unforgettable experience, drawing pictures so real you want to touch them and so powerful you can almost feel them.
The first IMAX cinema with the biggest screen in Ukraine is part of the 12-hall multiplex cinema at the new Blockbuster shopping center on Moskovsky Prospect. For watching 2D format films, their hall can seat 326 spectators and, for 3D movies, this number is reduced to 278 because the first two rows are too close to the screen and it’s impossible to perceive 3D images from such a distance. At the opening of the shopping center Blockbuster, Multiplex IMAX cinema broadcasted 3D trailers free to all guests, giving them the chance to experience the difference between the regular screen and 3D movies. Currently Multiplex cinema is showing films in the standard 2D format but soon they will start displaying three documentary films “Deep Sea 3D” – the first film from their oceanic series, “Space Station 3D” – the first IMAX film ever filmed in space in co-operation with NASA and “U2 3D” – the first live-action 3D concert movie of Irish rock band U2, shot exclusively with both 3D and digital cinema technology during their “Vertigo Tour” in 2006. The quality of sound is even more important than the screen size. That’s why the cinema is equipped with a six-channel sound system.
Among the films to be shown during the year (a new one will come out every month) are: “African Adventure: Okavango 3D,” “Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of Patagonia,” and award-winning film from National Geographic “Lions 3D.” The average price of the ticket for IMAX cinema might be 30 to 40 percent higher, but the organizers assure it won’t go over Hr 50.
Apart from Multiplex movie theater, Blockbuster offers child and adult entertainment activites for every taste. Among them are: one of the biggest rollerdroms in the city, bowling, rock-climbing walls, fitness club, entertainment complexes Q-zar and TransForce, various modern game machines and computer club, as well as a rope city Sky Quest – to help inject some extra adrenaline in your blood. Between entertainments and action games you can take a bite at the one of the cafes and restaurants such as Coffee House, Double Coffee, Sushiya or Yapona Khata and of course there are numerous cinema cafes-bars with sandwiches and popcorn. Blockbuster’s parking lot contains 1,100 parking places, plus adjoining hypermarkets Metro and Foxmart, offer 1,600 more places. To get to the complex, you can take free marshrutkas, going from Petrivka and Obolon metro stations to Blockbuster.
Multiplex cinema (Shopping center Blockbuster, 34V Moskovsky Prospect,
498-4832/33)
