Commenting Rules: Keep the conversation civil and on topic. If your comment does not add to the conversation, it will be removed. Debate intelligently. Insulting the author, /Film, or other commenters will result in comment removal and possible ban. If you want to point out a typo, correction, suggestion or criticism for /Film, please email us instead. Please use your name or nickname and not your business name (ie Discount Car Parts) as we might confuse and mark it as spam. If you would like to have your own Avatar show up with your comment, sign-up for a free Disqus account. Any Links will go into moderation before being approved. Anything we deem as spam will not be approved.

Christopher Nolan Wants to Go Full-IMAX; Outlining Dark Knight Sequel

Posted on Sunday, December 7th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

Christopher Nolan has wanted to shoot a film with IMAX for quite some time. In 2006, he shot some of The Prestige using IMAX cameras in an attempt to better learn the technology (the footage was just test footage). And as we all know, he shot the action scenes in The Dark Knight using IMAX cameras. Iron Man director Jon Favreau called the result a “game changer”, and the sequences were praised by journalists and fans alike. But what many people don’t know is that Nolan would like to push it one step further and shoot an entire film for IMAX.

Nolan said so at a recent Dark Knight Blu-ray event (via AICN), before admitting that it might be difficult due to the noisiness of the camera. Apparently the IMAX camera is so noisy that any dialogue needs to be looped in post production, something younger actors aren’t well accustomed to. But Nolan has thought long and hard about a solution - he could shoot all the scenes/shots with little or no dialogue using the IMAX camera and shoot the dialogue driven scenes using a 65mm film camera. I’m actually surprised no one has thought about this before.

The question now is, what project will Nolan use as a testing bed for this? I’m not saying that he’s thinking about shooting the Dark Knight sequel completely for the huge screen, but it would have to be a big budget film as shooting IMAX is pretty expensive.

I should note that if Nolan ever gets to shoot an entire film suing the larger film formats, it will definitely be down-converted for 35mm and digital screens. And thats not a bad thing. For the Dark Knight, many people thought the down converted IMAX shot scenes were much sharper and more vivid than the 35mm shot scenes.

And speaking of the Dark Knight sequel, Nolan told USA Today that he has been “jotting notes and doing some rough outlines for a third story, but he hasn’t yet found anything he’s willing to commit to film, despite Warner Bros.’ eagerness to get a new film underway.

“It was obvious when the box office was so big ($530 million domestically) that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise,” he says. “The worst thing you could do now that you’ve gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing.

Comments 

Related Posts

Tags

Action/Adventure, Comic Book/Superhero, IMAX, Sequels, Warner Brothers, , ,

  • Dr. Doc
    take your time chris! take as long as you want!

    he is right, you dont wanna rush a third one and pooch the whole thing
  • Jones
    I wouldn't say it made as much because of fan's eagerness to reboot the franchise but more because the marketing and Heath Ledger's death and role as Joker more then anything. If that wasn't the case then the 1st reboot Batman Begins would have made $530 million domesticly but instead it made what $230 million and $300 something million WW?
  • The good thing about Nolan though is that he always takes reality over sfx whenever possible. When Batman was standing on top of the Sears Tower, he was really standing on top of the real Sears tower. The scene in Hong Kong going from skyscraper to skyscraper was not sfx nor was the insane front flipping 18 wheeler.
  • jason B
    I. HEART. CHRIS. NOLAN.
  • <3!
  • jason B
    sorry...TE. AMO. JONAH. NOLAN. TAMBIEN. VERY MUCHO.
  • Goro
    WB is likely very interested in managing to do a full IMAX movie. EVERY studio wants to figure out a way to bring the viewers back into the cinemas and while the difference b/w a normal theatre and a home theatre are dwindling (and in fact the presentation of a home theatre can be superior), the difference b/w an IMAX and home theatre are huge.
  • /filmluvsmangopie
    ha that plane quote is a good one.
  • Josh
    If he shoots most of the scenes in IMAX, but does the heavy dialogue scenes using a 65mm camera, would he convert that footage to IMAX? If he didn't, it would be the same way as Dark Knght, right? Some scenes fill the screen, while some don't. Obviously, there would be a lot more in IMAX than in TDK.
  • This is fantastic news. The Nolan(s) know what they're doing. Like everyone else, I can't wait. By using IMAX frequently with no dialogue, it'll make the script really pop. It's a win-win.
  • While Nolan does prefer real vs. CGI (which is why I'm a fan), there's still a lot of invisible CGI going on, even in the real shots, like wire removals, green screens (for example, anytime you see an interior penthouse shot with windows, it's a CGI exterior... that set was really a building lobby on the ground floor).

    Thankfully, no CG Heath Ledgers were reported.
  • They need to let Nolan do whatever he wants. He's to IMAX what Cameron is to 3D.
  • Yeah, those intricately detailed exteriors would be a pain due to the ridiculous resolution that IMAX is presented in. Hilarious second comment too!
  • Adam
    God dammit Christopher Nolan let me have your babies.
  • At least we know he is working on it...and all action scenes IMAX would be so so sweet...
  • Whatever Nolan wants to do is fine with me. If he decides he is not motivated to film another Batman then I will be satisfied. I am pumped to see more IMAX though. I was blown away by the sequences in TDK.
  • gooso
    nolan is a fucking genius. kudos to you sir.
  • Double Kudos
  • smither
    Amen to that!
  • ben form seattle
    it's reassuring to know he's bouncing ideas around in his head about TDK sequel.
  • NO! ME FIRST!
  • Delta Assault
    Take off that crown James. Christopher Nolan is my king of the world.
  • The issue with IMAX is not only the camera noise and distribution... no FX company is really prepped for IMAX. The TDK issue of Cinefex details what they had to go through for IMAX-sized CGI and it was mostly experimental. I'd say that and shooting IMAX to begin with is the main reason why TDK cost so much to take ($200mil).

    If Nolan plans on shooting the next movie 100% IMAX, expect the budget to be far north of $200mil... $300mil, anyone? Which puts even more pressure on Nolan and Co. to break box office records... I might go as far as saying that if the next one DOESN'T surpass Titanic in grosses, the industry will consider it a failure. Ironically, Nolan's really pigeon-holing himself on this one :(
  • THIS is something I'd pay an extra $5 for...
  • i paid an extra 3 to see bolt in 3D, i would definitely pay up to 20 bucks to see this
  • Andy
    The just announced Monstro digital cinema camera body coming from RED is (virtually) bigger in terms of resolution than IMAX...twice as wide actually. That could solve the whole camera noise problem right there. And RED is fairly good at keeping their promises too...so there's a really good chance this thing isn't vaporware.

    As a viewer, this would be thrilling to see. I saw The Dark Knight in IMAX three times this summer and it was a spectacle every time. Granted, it's a great movie on any screen, but the IMAX kicked your teeth in.

    I would also pay an extra 5 bucks for that...not to mention, our local IMAX theater doesn't barrage you with commercials for a half an hour before the movie, THAT'S worth more too.
  • The IMAX format was never intended for narrative movies, so they weren't concerned with sound when they developed the mechanism. It'd be like saying, "We need to make airplane engines that don't make sound but are still effective." It ain't happening.
  • There's a new imax screen opening up in the new year in a few miles from here. If they rerelease TDK, I'm freaking there.

    As for a whole movie in IMAX? Well if they let an over-hyped meglamaniacal Director shoot in 3D then why not an IMAX movie?
  • Guest
    If one does not mind paying extra to not deal with ads, something is seriously wrong with the state of movie theaters. $10 should escape you from that barrage, not submit you to it.
  • Nolan is God
  • Something is wrong in Hollywood, when the shooting technique becomes more important than a well written story.
  • Jesse
    He has proven himself time and time again. For those who didn't believe in him or even know of him... this summer changed all that. Let the man do what he wants with a budget that allows it. Obviously there is a fan base for the Nolanverse. Let us see if WB is gonna play this one smart. (they have made some head scratching moves the last few years)
  • Jesse
    Marc, I do agree with you. But he has made it a known fact that nothing is happening without a solid, worthwhile story. He seems to have caught lightning in a bottle with TDK, now hes got a bigger bottle and is standing on Mt. Everest with a billion umbrellas!
  • syms
    Full IMAX? Even better than going "full retard"
  • You never go full retard..
  • "And speaking of the Dark Knight sequel, Nolan told USA Today that he has been “jotting notes and doing some rough outlines for a third story, but he hasn’t yet found anything he’s willing to commit to film, despite Warner Bros.’ eagerness to get a new film underway."

    Nipples fully erect.
  • edwine
    there will never be a third nolan batman film because there's
    just no way to exceed and eclipse the dark knight. its not possible.
  • Kdawg
    That's great and all, but to be honest, I wasn't that thrilled with TDK. That being said though, I do think a shift to IMAX cameras would be awesome.
  • onlyjoking
    The Dark Knight had action scenes? Huh.
  • Youre such a joker.
  • joshi38
    Isn't filming in IMAX difficult for other reasons as well? Like a single reel of film is incredibly short? I say if he's going to do this it'll be a huge undertaking for him, but at least he's moved into it slowly by getting experience with TDK.

    I wonder if he'll do another film before doing a third Batman, like he did with The Prestige. I like seeing Nolan do different things.
  • That's great for those with access to IMAX screens... just have to make sure you don't rely too heavily on the IMAX experience propelling the story, because silver screens will miss the boat and subsequently pan the s*it out of it.
  • BradUSA
    The author meant to say "eschewing the larger film formats" NOT " suing the larger film formats". The error is stupid and he should fix it. It is one thing to confuse their and there, but this really messes up the reading.
  • charles
    I don't get it , if IMAX camera has all these problems maybe its time to update the IMAX cameras. Just focus on the problems it has a fix them.
  • Weyland_Yutani
    I think they call that "the Schumacher effect." Batman and Robin lost about $100 million dollars for Batman Begins. Likewise, you could easily argue that a great deal of the money TDK made is attributed to the quality of Batman Begins.
  • Weyland_Yutani
    If you consider that Pirates3 raked in a cool 961 million regardless of it's quality relative to 1 or 2, Nolan's "job" isn't nearly as pressured as one might think. If Nolan does the film, I think most will go, and with this IMAX possibility, I can only imagine how fast the presale tickets would be going. Easy records. (No way will I go through the waiting period I endured to get to an Imax screening).

    The 3rd film will make easy bank and it can only be buoyed by the prospect that Nolan actually cares about the quality of the product.

    Oh, and ....awesome!!
  • Jordan
    NOLAN YOU ARE THE MAN...BUT YOUR STILL NO KOBE
  • Because they compare, at all. hahaha
blog comments powered by Disqus

gorilla nation

/Film

Copyright © 2010 /Film. Web design by Pro Blog Design. Logo Concept by: Illumination Ink

All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners.