Sure all that whiz-bang IMAX 3D looked good in James Cameron’s 15-minute preview of Avatar, but for my money The Dark Knight’s IMAX filmed segments are still the best use I’ve seen of the IMAX format. It sounds like maybe Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan agree because AICN says the sequel may be shot entirely in IMAX.
We’re not talking gimmicky IMAX digital or IMAX 3D or any of that, but real IMAX, with the ridiculously expensive and hard to use cameras usually reserved for eye-popping documentaries on the Grand Canyon. If you saw The Dark Knight in IMAX then you know what a difference that can make. This is no small feat. Working with IMAX is a very difficult and time consuming process. The results are stunning, but it takes time and it’s insanely expensive. Of course if you’re the guy who made The Dark Knight then you damn well deserve all the time and money in the world to make the sequel.
Great as this sounds, I do have one slight misgiving here. Part of the reason the IMAX work on The Dark Knight was so stunning, was because of the way Nolan used it to contrast clauterphobic indoor scenes with expansive outdoor shots. You’d go inside a building and the film would switch to regular format. You’d step outside into a car chase or an aerial shot and he’d switch to IMAX, giving the city of Gotham and this huge, expansive, impressive feel. Shooting the whole thing in IMAX you lose that, but if given the chance to experiment I suspect Nolan can come up with an even better way to use it.
