MURRIETA: City snags IMAX theater
Screens show bigger, louder versions of Hollywood hits
By AARON CLAVERIE ‐ Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Californian

A movie‐goer enters the Regal Escondido Stadium 16 & IMAX theater Wednesday. A new IMAX theater is expected to open soon in Murrieta. (Photo by Don Boomer ‐ staff photographer)

MURRIETA ‐‐‐‐ Bigger, louder, closer.

Southwest County movie fans are getting a new way to watch Hollywood blockbusters and familyfriendly documentaries.

The Movie Experience 17 at Cal Oaks in Murrieta will be home to an IMAX theater in the near future, possibly as soon as this summer, theater officials said.

Count Jo Moulton, director of the Temecula Valley International Film Festival, among the movie fans who are excited about the news, which was confirmed by an IMAX Corporation spokesman and a movie theater representative.

"Now the moviegoing public of the Temecula Valley and surrounding communities do not have to travel all over the place just to see an IMAX film," she said. "The visual experience of a screening is quite unique, stunning. The images, the sound ‐‐‐‐ pretty out of this world. Imagine an amazing band like U2 for just the price of a movie ticket."

For those interested in checking out what Murrieta will be getting later this year, an IMAX theater in Escondido recently opened its doors. It will be showing the adaptation of the iconic "Watchmen" graphic novel on Friday.

An IMAX screen, a huge expanse that can stretch 72 feet wide by 52 feet high, outpaces the standard 70‐feet‐wide‐by‐30‐feet‐high screens found at most movie theaters. An IMAX theater "experience" combines the large screen with seating that rises sharply from the floor; a pounding, immersive sound system and a specially designed, curved screen.

Many movie fans are familiar with the IMAX experience: Crisp 70 mm nature documentaries and science films have been screened at Southern California museums for years. But the theater that will be built in Murrieta is subtly different.

The movies playing in that IMAX theater, customized with what's called IMAX MPX technology, will be remastered, digital versions of 35 mm prints, the standard film stock used by motion picture directors.

The screen size in Murrieta might not be as large as 72 by 52, but it will hit a similar ratio, said Lisa Kanno, The Movie Experience's marketing director and film buyer.

An IMAX MPX theater's screen is flatter than the larger IMAX screens used at dome theaters and museums, and it is designed for two‐dimensional and three‐dimensional images.

A remastered version of a 35 mm print, while bigger, is the same movie stretched to fit the different screen ratio of an IMAX screen.

This new technology has allowed Hollywood studios to pick and choose movies expected to be popular ‐ ‐‐‐ last year's "The Dark Knight," for instance ‐‐‐‐ and reformat them cheaply for an IMAX theater.

It's not a 70 mm version ‐‐‐‐ a very expensive format that requires special cameras and projectors ‐‐‐‐ but many filmgoers don't care or don't know the difference.

Robbie Arrington, a market manager for Knoxville, Tenn.‐based Regal Entertainment Group, said the theaters using MPX digital projectors will allow Regal's theaters, which include the IMAX theater in Escondido, to screen a big slate of potential blockbusters this year.

The large number of movies ‐‐‐‐ titles such as "Watchmen," "Star Trek" and the "Transformers" sequel ‐‐‐ ‐ shows how the format is moving into the mainstream.

In the future, Arrington said IMAX hopes to use its MPX theaters to show NFL games and concerts, potentially lucrative sources of revenue.

"That's technology that we're working on," he said.

As for how cities go about getting an IMAX theater, Arrington said the decision to place a theater in a particular city is more complicated than it might seem.

And how.

On Feb. 25, Regal released a news release that said the Edwards Temecula Stadium 15 at The Promenade mall was getting an IMAX. Two days later, IMAX representatives said the Regal release was sent out in error.

The IMAX Corporation, a Canadian‐based company, and Regal Entertainment Group of Knoxville, Tenn., formed an agreement last year to build 31 new theaters in 20 U.S. markets. But Arrington said they both have to agree on a new location, which may have sparked the confusion.

In an e‐mail sent to The Californian late last week, a Regal vice president referred to the Temecula snafu, saying, "There are some questions about this location. At this time, it is our understanding that we will not be adding IMAX to Temecula."

Kanno said The Movie Experience owns the rights to build an IMAX theater in Southwest County.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676‐4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.