Filmmaker Christopher Nolan has been the biggest advocate for the true IMAX aspect ratio, lending movies like INTERSTELLAR and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES a scope that can only be experienced in a real IMAX theater. I figured it was only a matter of time before he took the plunge in directing an entire movie in this format, but it looks like Joe and Anthony Russo will beat him to the punch. Arri has developed a new digital IMAX camera and while select action scenes in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR will utilize this format, the directors have announced that they’ll be shooting the entirety of AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (both parts) with them as well. This marks the first Hollywood feature-film to be shot in this ratio.
Joe and Anthony Russo on using the IMAX ratio for filming:
The intent with the Infinity War films is to bring ten years of accumulative storytelling to an incredible climax. We felt that the best way to exploit the scale and scope required to close out the final chapter of these three phases, was to be the first films shot entirely on the IMAX/ARRI Digital camera.
There’s two very important things to note regarding the format of INFINITY WAR, and the first is that unlike Christopher Nolan‘s films, the Russo’s will be utilizing a digital medium. The resolution will undoubtedly better than your run-of-the-mill digitally-shot flick, but how it measures up to 70mm is a wait and see. I suppose we’ll have a better idea of the look once CIVIL WAR hits screens.
The second and most important is that the Russo’s are shooting in 2D. There is no question that Marvel will pull a post-conversion process to have 3D copies of INFINITY WAR out there, but whether or not 2D IMAX will be available is up in the air. This would be a huge loss for those of us who appreciate the 2D presentation and would like enjoy the high resolution without 3D. That’s not even a knock against the post-conversion process, but rather a statement on filmgoers who prefer to watch a movie in its native format. J.J. Abrams shot a sequence for THE FORCE AWAKENS in IMAX, and Disney is advertising IMAX 3D (again, post-conversion) for its release, so perhaps we’ll know this December whether or not Disney plans to release films shot with IMAX 2D in their native format. I certainly hope so.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR – PART I will open on May 4, 2018, with PART II hitting on May 3, 2019.