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The longest IMAX movie ever made is still rolling at the Kramer IMAX Theatre.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ first began screening July 20. Since then, its run at the Regina IMAX theatre has been extended four times due to its popularity, and the latest run will come to a close on Oct. 5.
#Oppenheimer has been extended till October 5th! Still chances to see the highest-grossing biopic in history at the Kramer #IMAX Theatre in @IMAX 70mm film.
Get your tickets now: https://t.co/5DuElRNzyX pic.twitter.com/zynC4zR48A
— Sask Science Centre (@SkScienceCentre) September 26, 2023
Ryan Holota, the chief operating officer of the Saskatchewan Science Centre, said he and the staff feel pretty fortunate to be one of 30 IMAX theatres in the world to screen the film.
“There’s quite a large audience of IMAX film fans in our area, and people to travel to our theatre for it,” said Holota. “It’s always great to be a destination for a film.”
The Kramer IMAX Theatre is one of six IMAX theatres in Canada, and Holota said people made the trip from every province in the country, as well as from the United States and Europe.
More than 16,000 tickets have so far been sold for ‘Oppenheimer’ during its run at the Regina IMAX theatre.
“It’s very exciting for us,” said Holota.
Lots of construction has been done on the theatre so far this year, with one film projector replaced with two digital laser projectors.
So far, the screening only ran into one problem on opening night with the program’s sensor, and ‘Oppenheimer’ was shown on the new laser system instead.
‘Oppenheimer’ is a biopic telling the story of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist in charge of the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. Oppenheimer and his team of scientists spent years creating the atomic bomb, which changed the history of war and the world.
‘Oppenheimer’ is the highest-grossing biopic of all time.
The Kramer IMAX incorporates a 50-foot-tall screen that’s 70 feet wide, while audio is blasted through a 12-channel surround-sound system.
Holota insisted the colours and imagery are much more vibrant watching the film in IMAX 15/70mm format.
“‘Oppenheimer’ as a movie is riveting,” he said. “I don’t think that people really knew what to expect from it. I think that everyone left just being really impressed with the quality of the film, the story that was told and – hopefully – the quality of the image as well.”
Trevor Ewen, the theatre’s chief projectionist, said it took 17 hours to assemble the 53-piece film for screening. He said a three-hour-long film is 11 miles long.
“It’s very hard to emulate IMAX,” he said. “The picture quality is above and beyond; all phenomenal.”
Trevor Ewen looks up at the difference between a larger IMAX sized film cell and a regular sized film cell at the Kramer IMAX Theatre in Regina, September 25, 2023. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
Ewen said a perk of being in the projection booth is seeing great reactions from the audience at the end of the film.
“I’ve run a lot of films,” said Ewen. “IMAX, it’s great because you can see the people stand, waving their arms and clapping and giving an ovation, especially when it was a really good performance.”
Other Christopher Nolan films have come to the theatre over the years, including ‘Tenet,’ ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ and ‘Interstellar.’ The theatre also screened other major movies in IMAX format, including ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ and ‘The Polar Express.’
Holota said big feature movies offer a great opportunity to attract people to other documentaries at the Saskatchewan Science Centre through the trailers that play before the movies.
“It just draws a lot of additional attention to it,” he said.
“We believe that we have the greatest movie theatre in the province, and it’s nice that people can come in and experience those films here.”
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