70mm Oppenheimer

[Frank Cox]

The 15/70 locations will likely sell out pretty much every showing for a few weeks.

Getting a reputation for breakdowns could reduce the ticket sales. How many people are going to want to pay a premium price for part of a movie?

[Scotty Wright]

Even London Science Museum had breakdown issues yesterday afternoon. Assume its back up and running now, but that’s gotta be a bummer for them.

[Peter Mork]

Sorry to hear that, for anyone who experienced it. My 35mm shows have all gone without a hitch. But why did Dave (the owner) schedule Oppenheimer and Barbie to both start at 7:00? Had to hold up starts for 15 minutes, and that's making for some cranky patrons. (There would have been a lot more if we hadn't)

[Lyle Romer]

Getting a reputation for breakdowns could reduce the ticket sales. How many people are going to want to pay a premium price for part of a movie?

Exactly. That's why they should be running something on these projectors for a week or two before the special engagements. They are dealing with projectors that have been mothballed for years. What are the chances of just threading them up and not having an issue or two?

[Jim Cassedy]

(edited) My 35mm shows have all gone without a hitch.

Hey, Peter- - I've got a silly projection tech question 4U: The countdown leaders on the 70mm version were
all specially printed so that the the numbers not upside down in the gate & framing aperture, as they are on
normal SMPTE leaders. I'm just curious if they did the same with the 35mm leaders? Supposedly this was
done to "make them easier to read". (Of course,there's a cynical side to me wonders if somebody at the
lab just screwed up when printing them and they're just covering up for it! hahahaha)

[Henry Atkinson]

(Of course,there's a cynical side to me wonders if somebody at the
lab just screwed up when printing them and they're just covering up for it! hahahaha)

Given everything else I've heard Fotokem mess up with this release (their crowning achievement of course being the trailer screw-up), I'd fully expect that to just be a mistake on their part.

[Henry Atkinson]

Finally saw it at the 15/70 theater at Providence Place, RI. It was quite the experience! There were no technical issues, except that it seemed to be out of focus? We all agreed that something was not right, way too soft at times. I just refuse to believe that they knowingly projected it out of focus, but I cannot fathom any other explanation besides the print its-self being out of focus.

Saw the same showing, and would be interested in hearing thoughts on the focus thing. There were a handful of things (very end of the credits for instance) that looked about as sharp as I'd expect, but there were some scenes that were glaringly soft. Another thing I could see in the B&W scenes is that something was up with their reflector, one half of the screen was noticeably brighter and whiter than the other (yellow tint to ~1/2 of the screen, again, could only really see it in B&W shots).

[Peter Mork]

>Hey, Peter- - I've got a silly projection tech question 4U: The countdown leaders on the 70mm version were
all specially printed so that the the numbers not upside down in the gate & framing aperture, as they are on
normal SMPTE leaders. I'm just curious if they did the same with the 35mm leaders?

My 35mm print has two Academy leaders, separated by a long run of clear film. Academy leaders normally have the numbers printed right-side-up from the threader's point of view, and project upside-down.

>Saw the same showing, and would be interested in hearing thoughts on the focus thing. There were a handful of things (very end of the credits for instance) that looked about as sharp as I'd expect, but there were some scenes that were glaringly soft.

There's a shallow depth of field in some shots to be sure. Some of the closeups of Oppy show his eyes clearly but his ears and silhouette are pretty blurry. A choice - focus on the windows of his soul; decide if he has one. (Just guessing, haven't watched the whole thing.)

>Another thing I could see in the B&W scenes is that something was up with their reflector, one half of the screen was noticeably brighter and whiter than the other (yellow tint to ~1/2 of the screen, again, could only really see it in B&W shots).

I think those shots were vignetted, darker around the corners, to give it sort of a dreamy look. I'd have to eyeball the frames to be sure.

[William Kucharski]

Just got out of a showing at Regal Colorado Mills in Golden, CO.

Other than wishing the screen was larger, the print and performance were absolutely perfect. The print was pristine, light levels good, massive kudos all around.

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(Well, I think the sound wasn’t at 7.0, but we all know I’d complain about that.)

[Victor Liorentas]

I'm lucky enough to be running Oppenheimer in 70mm at the Varsity in Toronto for a week now. The print quality is sharp and steady along with the projection. Almost every show has sold out since opening. Vic 8 with a Strong Ultra 80 and 4k bulb. Isco Ultrastar lens 95mm I think. This is also a former THX house and Rick from Cinematronics works miracles keeping things in working order! Walking on sunshine!

[Thomas Piccione]

[I]

>Saw the same showing, and would be interested in hearing thoughts on the focus thing. There were a handful of things (very end of the credits for instance) that looked about as sharp as I'd expect, but there were some scenes that were glaringly soft.

There's a shallow depth of field in some shots to be sure. Some of the closeups of Oppy show his eyes clearly but his ears and silhouette are pretty blurry. A choice - focus on the windows of his soul; decide if he has one. (Just guessing, haven't watched the whole thing.)

>Another thing I could see in the B&W scenes is that something was up with their reflector, one half of the screen was noticeably brighter and whiter than the other (yellow tint to ~1/2 of the screen, again, could only really see it in B&W shots).

I think those shots were vignetted, darker around the corners, to give it sort of a dreamy look. I'd have to eyeball the frames to be sure.

I was also at the showing in Providence, and what was out of focus clearly did not match up with how it had been shot. All the aerial IMAX footage was blurry; flying over towns in the beginning, or over the desert later on. What was confusing was that not everything was out of focus. I remember several occasions where it went from quite blurry to sharply focused when the scene cut from IMAX footage to standard 70mm. Could the print somehow have been made out of focus?? Not sure how you could possibly goof a contact print like that but I wouldn't put it past Fotokem...

I also noticed the color temperature inconsistencies within the frame, but similarly, only during the black and white scenes.

I've now seen a standard 70mm print at the Coolidge Corner Theater and it had neither of these issues.

[Peter Mork]

Well it's certainly possible it was a bad print, or a gate that's loose, causing that film to pop in and out of the focal plane. (I have no experience with Imax, someone else may know what caused that.)

I always say, if you see a problem during a show, don't count on someone else in the audience to go point it out. You might miss something, sure, but the person running the show is likely not monitoring every minute of it and may be unaware. If it's a problem that can be fixed, they may be able to. If not, at least they know.
As for color being yellowish on one side, that could indeed be a printing fault, but it's unlikely to be that way through the whole film.

[Ryan Gallagher]

A San Antonio 15/70 update. My co-projectionist from yesterday made the attempt on Saturday (07/22) at the SA AMC IMAX (that had the previous audio troubles). They were up and running attempts again. But alas, no dice. He got to see 4 min of the film in 15/70, then apparently a lamp issue. Film continued running dark and they managed what seemed like a re-strike, but then picture went out again a few minutes later.

At that stage him and his group called it and walked out attempting to get another screening elsewhere before their Barbie tickets for the same day (Barbenheimer is a thing). As they were getting a refund the rest of the theatre emptied as the screening had been cancelled.

I hope they can get it sorted, I'm still considering making the trek from Austin mid August if any tickets remain.

[David J Hilsgen]

Say a question for everybody who manufactured the PTR 70 mm roller system that are on the BLS installs.Dave

[Marcel Birgelen]

I always say, if you see a problem during a show, don't count on someone else in the audience to go point it out. You might miss something, sure, but the person running the show is likely not monitoring every minute of it and may be unaware. If it's a problem that can be fixed, they may be able to. If not, at least they know.
As for color being yellowish on one side, that could indeed be a printing fault, but it's unlikely to be that way through the whole film.

The few locations running those precious 5/70mm prints I know of, are putting dedicated, well trained people into the booth to monitor the ENTIRE show, simply to avoid any small incident becoming catastrophic. I'd say that for such a high-profile 15/70 showing, I'd expect someone to be in the booth all the time...