First, I have not seen AVATAR at all. Nothing I saw or heard about it really grabbed me for some reason. BUT…
A friend just saw it this week in her hometown and is obsessed. She even miraculously found an area theatre showing it in regular 3-D. But not in IMAX and so comes the question she wants me to ask…
In the regular 3-D version, she didn’t register things jumping out at her as in most 3-D movies but more of being drawn in to the depth of the movie, noticing textures & almost feeling surrounded by the three dimensions. Is viewing it in IMAX even more intensely that way or is it different somehow?
It wasn’t my experience that that many things jumped out at you anyway. 3-D the way James Cameron used it in Avatar is and is intended to be an immsersive experience rather than one in which things are forever flying toward the viewer. And when things are coming at you it’s in a more natural way, such as in the beginning when a Thanator - a large, panther-like animal - is leaping at and chasing the protagonist and you experience the chase largely from his point of view.
I’ve seen the picture three times, twice on one screen and once on a another. There was a slight difference between the two screens in terms of sharpness of detail and vividness of color, but they were so slight as to be virtualy unnoticable.
It truly is a wonderful, beautiful and immersive movie. Each time I’ve seen it I’ve been surprised and amused to see people at the end of the movie put their 3-D glasses back on when the credits came up [over the Pandora background] so as to continue the experience of being there as long as they could.
Many people who have only seen it in 2-D have loved it, but you really need to see it in 3-D to get the full experience. IMO, which 3-D screen you see in on is relatively unimportant. If it was still available here on a 3-D screen of any type I’d be more than happy to see it again, no matter which screen technology was being used.
Avatar 3-D, which I saw in IMAX did not have things jumping out. There were little floaty things that came down, seed spirits or something like that. Those were the most pronounced “comin-at-ya” 3-D things. I think your friend had an experience very similar to mine. 3-D in Avatar was used to draw the audience further in to the story, but was in no way distracting. The movie would have been Pocahantas or Dances With Wolves in Space without the 3-D and sci-fi setting. What was remarkable was the color and depth.
Yeah it wasn’t one of those in your face 3-D movies. But the 3-D made it incredibly immersive. Plus, it was filmed in actual 3D rather than make 3D from 2D footage in postproduction which tends to have an uncanny valley effect. Definitely if you see Avatar, 3D IMAX is the way to go…
I saw it first in regular 3D (because the IMAX was sold out) and then a week later in IMAX 3D. I didn’t think the IMAX experience was different in terms of the 3D general sensation - both versions were highly immersive. IMAX was of course even more immersive since the screen takes up more of your visual field. (In my case, the effect was a bit different since in the IMAX theater I was forced to sit more towards the side than in the regular 3D. This caused the 3D effect to register a bit blurrily some of the time. However, it was still spectacular.)
I’ve long maintained that this is the way 3D movies should be made. Despite your friend’s recollections, I think that a great many 3D movies have, in fact, been made in that way (although usually there’s been at least one “jumping out at you” scene", even in the best). Have a look at