A five-storey-high screen and 13 000 watt speakers are just part of the attraction of Cape Town’s new Imax cinema. Peter Frost reports
AFRICA’S first Imax cinema — hyped as “much more than movies”, with its 15m by 22m screen — opened in Cape Town this week, launched by visiting actor James Earl Jones.
The cinema will, it is hoped, further Cape Town’s push to become the unrivalled playground of Southern Africa. Two films, Rolling Stones — At the Max and Blue Planet, are already up and running at BMW’s “interactive” pavilion at the Waterfront.
The pavilion is BMW’s new regional headquarters and Imax’s inclusion in the complex represents a smart move by the car manufacturer — crowds drawn to Imax will be channelled through the building and fed information about its myriad facilities. Sold to BMW by Millenium Expotainment, the project cost an estimated R30-million.
The distinctly American flavour of the venture is no coincidence. A Canadian invention, Imax premiered to the Western world in 1970 and 119 complexes have since sprung up.
It is impressive stuff. A super-sharp giant picture is achieved by speeding 70mm film through a “rolling loop” projector at two metres a second, three times faster than an average movie projector. Allied to this, a 13 000 watt sound system “puts you there — at take off, at the concert”.
Canadian complex manager Wes Wenhardt’s hard-sell patter hits the nail on the head in one respect — the experience is “awesome”. But not without problems.
Imax is proving hard to market — Wenhardt admits to not knowing what to expect from South African audiences. Convincing them that Imax “is not just an indoor drive-in is hard work”, he says.
Imax’s past is also a factor. Working hard to shrug off its image as a purveyor of dull educational documentaries, Imax has recently done much to change. Aware of criticism that past emphasis has been on technology rather than entertainment, Imax has established a partnership with Sony in New York, signed up film magician David Douglas, and should move into the lucrative world of mainstream entertainment before long.
Careful film selection will be called for if Imax Cape Town is to keep audiences interested. With that in mind, Wenhardt has chosen the best of what’s currently available to entertain picky South Africa. Out of 100-odd films, Cape Town gets the educational Blue Planet and Douglas’ cream, Rolling Stones — At the Max.
Smacking of National Geographic circa 1970, Blue Planet is nevertheless ideal to introduce audiences to the joys of Imax, using the huge screen to great effect. Filmed by astronauts aboard space shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Columbia between 1985 and 1990, the vast spacescapes and satellite-eye-views of Mother Earth more than make up for the pedantic, scolding Mother Grundy voice-over.
There’s no such problem with Rolling Stones — At the Max. The sound system delivers Mick Jagger and his band of fallen jowls into the proverbial lap. Taken from the best of the Stones’ 1990 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, it features five-storey-high renditions of such hits as Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, Honky Tonk Woman and Start Me Up. Jagger — formidable enough pint-sized — is nigh sacrilegious 15m high and through 13 000 watt speakers.
Imax films are set to change every four to six months depending on demand. Tickets, available from Computicket, are R18 for Blue Planet (showing daily on the hour) and a hefty R50 for Rolling Stones — At the Max (nightly at 7pm and 9pm). High Stones royalties are apparently to blame for the price of the latter, so don’t, we are told, blame Imax — blame Rubber Lips.