During filming on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, director J.J. Abrams revealed that they were shooting in IMAX, and he later confirmed to Steve that it’s only one sequence, “but it’s a good sequence.” While filming, Abrams tweeted out an image of the IMAX camera from Abu Dhabi, which we know stands in for the desert planet of Jakku. So if that’s where we’re getting our IMAX sequence, what and how much can we expect to see?
Details on Star Wars: The Force Awakens IMAX scene are now becoming clear as Making Star Wars reports that the “the scene is most likely the escape from Jakku,” which was shot with a 70mm IMAX camera. We’ve caught glimpses of this scene in the trailers with the Millennium Falcon fleeing from TIE Fighters, and if you want to see the scene in full IMAX glory, you have to go to a real IMAX theater.
According to Making Star Wars, “theaters that house a “true” eight story tall IMAX screen will present the film in actual 70MM film reel; presenting the 70MM shot scenes in its full screen glory.” Additionally, this will be in true IMAX 3D, not post-converted. However, if you go to see the movie in fake IMAX, you’re going to get it in the standard, digital IMAX-converted format.
Here are some comparison shots below for how the frame will look based on if you see the movie in IMAX or in a regular presentation. Unsurprisingly, the true IMAX is far more impressive, and it’s a bit of a shame that only one scene in the movie will be taking advantage of the format.
Finally, MSW is hearing that ticket presales for The Force Awakens begins in late September to early October.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18th. Click here to catch up on all of our Star Wars: The Force Awakens coverage, or peruse the recent links below.
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