Hollywood is always on the cutting edge of things. You know, breaking new ground, going out on a limb, trying something that pushes the medium further and further. Or, maybe just taking something that worked for one film and arbitrarily applying it to other movies in the hopes of getting involved in the latest hot trend. Actually, I think Hollywood is often more the latter thing than the former.
Case in point is the rumor that September’s Shia LaBeouf thiller, Eagle Eye, will be released in IMAX theaters concurrent with its regular release. The guys at First Showing say they heard about it from a contact at a movie theater. The interest in IMAX, which had been waning some, was reinvigorated by the amazing success of The Dark Knight in IMAX. Of course, portions of The Dark Knight were shot with IMAX cameras specifically for the IMAX theaters, while Eagle Eye will, according to First Showing, just convert the standard print to an IMAX size print.
Eagle Eye has Steven Spielberg as executive producer and stars the new Harrison Ford in LaBeouf, so it may translate well into IMAX. The trailers show a lot of action, which is the only reason you would go see something in IMAX in the first place. I’d prefer to see something shot (or mostly shot) for IMAX and intended to be seen in that medium, but this film may work out for those who want to see stuff getting blowed up on a really big screen.
