While 3D is indeed on the wane in the States, the one hot movie technology continues to be IMAX.
The current fascination with IMAX probably began with Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, where he shot many scenes with IMAX cameras to make them look bigger than life on the screen. Star Trek Into Darkness, which is nearly upon us, reportedly also has over an hour of IMAX footage in it.
Not to mention that Michael Bay and Nolan will be making their next films, Transformers 4 and Interstellar respectively, with IMAX 3D cameras, so this technology is not going anywhere any time soon. Now comes the news that the upcoming Metallica concert film, Through the Never, will get an IMAX release as well.
Through the Never is a movie that Metallica is self-financing to the tune of $20 million, and like Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same it will be a combination of live footage, as well as a narrative story starring Dane DeHaan (Chronicle). The film was also directed by Nimrod Antal (Predators, Vacancy).
Rolling Stone tells us the full release schedule for the film has been moved from August 9 to October 4, but like a lot of movies these days, you’ll be able to see it earlier in IMAX. Through the Never will get an IMAX screening that will play for a week in North America beginning on September 27, right before the movie hits theaters in regular release.
Spin reports that Through the Never will be playing on every available IMAX screen in North America, (over 300 screens), and as Lars Ulrich told the Associated Press, “To be at the forefront of this situation where Imax has never done this is very exciting. It’s also a bit of a confidence booster. Being in the movie-making business is not necessarily our forte and it’s been a very interesting three years. We’ve learned a lot about a lot of different things. The recognition from Imax and to be able to have our fans and people that are interested in this film to see it and experience it in the Imax performance is super cool.”
As far as the movie itself, Ulrich continued, “There’s no secret there are parts of Metallica’s career that have been quite theatrical, of the different live experiences that we’ve had. And so we thought that we would give some of those theatrical presentations a kind of 2012 upgrade, especially for a bunch of our fans who were very, very young who have only heard about what happened in the 80’s and 90’s.”
It will also be interesting to see a concert film with a dramatic narrative from Metallica’s point of view, in Imax 3D no less. It’s definitely a risky undertaking, especially considering they’re spending their own money on this, so we’ll see in the fall if it all pays off.
