New Tech Brings Super Blockbusters to Life in Chattanooga
CHATTANOOGA, TN – This weeks Tech Byte is featuring the tech that brings summer blockbuster movies to the IMAX screen at the Tennessee Aquarium. Alison Pryor and Corey Cobb were nice enough to give us a look at the tech that makes the magic happen, and seeing that Superman hits theaters this weekend I had to invite my friend Henry Flood from Epikos comics and games.
I’ve loved going to see movies my entire life, as much as I love my own home theater there’s just something magical about seeing stars light up the silver screen. But what makes the IMAX better or different than another screen?
According to Corey Cobb, “Originally Imax was called Multi-screen Corporation, and that was originally kind of as it sounds. It was multiple screens all trying to create this immersive myth. And then later, after the advent of film cameras and, film projectors that, you know, they obviously came to a point where with I’m feeling like you put this all in one. And so the name Imax was coined, when they were trying to kind of convey image maximum and maximum image. And so by kind of tooling with the words image maximum, you ended up at Imax. So that’s how our name started.”
We could spend days talking about the laser projection that makes movies feel real or the thunderous speakers that make you feel like you’re in the action, but probably the neatest thing to me was what happens when the power goes out? As a kid some days the movie was over, some days the sound was off and it looked like an old Kung Fu TV show where the words and mouths weren’t exactly in sync. That’s true for IMAX as well. During the film days they had multiple roles of film that were each over four miles long. A power flicker meant your day at the movies was over. Now, thanks to all the technology we have, the movie picks back up where it left off.
Henry and I actually got to hold the new Superman movie but according to Corey we couldn’t get the advanced screening we were hoping for because the movies now come encrypted with certain time lock keys. The days of shipping four miles of film are gone and the movies come on a hard drive not much bigger than your cellphone. We did get to physically hold the movie that was right around 400 gigs of information, but unfortunately the movie can’t be played until the release date.
The screen is 66 feet tall and 89 feet wide and the way the theater is laid out, there are no bad seats. Before each show they give you a quick tour of how the theater works and the amazing sound that comes with it. Thankfully Chattanooga is home to one of the only (less than a handful) theaters in the country that has dual laser 4k projectors and 12 channel audio. So if you’re looking for the latest tech to watch this summers blockbusters on, look no further than the Aquarium IMAX Theater.
Superman opens today June 11th and tickets are on sale now but make sure to catch it on the IMAX.
