Cinema experiences
Eateries and movie theatres are always flooded with the youth during summer time as the youth try to beat the heat and rescue themselves from the endless power outages.
Logically, at a certain point in time, everyone is bound to get sick of constantly dining out and watching movies day in and day out. With the rebirth of movie theatres which initiated during the latter half of 2008, eateries and movie theatres constantly come up with new innovative ways of ensuring that recreation and this so called fun-time doesn’t become monotonous for customers, particularly the young.
As a result of this constant need for change, movie theatres around the country finally introduced the audiences to 3-D movies sometime during last summer, which was received as a breath of fresh air by cinema-goers. A year after the introduction of 3-D movies in Pakistan, the movie going experience has again become monotonous with every Hollywood movie being released in 3-D.
With every visit to the cinema, nothing seems different. The same old 3-D, with the same old glasses, the same old effects and the same old mixed popcorn and coke combo in short nothing is new apart from the movie itself.
So what do these cinema owners have in store for their audiences in the coming future? Soon we’ll have an IMAX in Lahore.
What’s exactly new about the IMAX 4k? The IMAX 4k is scheduled to open in Lahore under the banner of Cinestar Cinemas sometime next year. The IMAX has revolutionised movies. With a larger than life screen the IMAX aims to involve all of the viewer’s senses to enjoy a movie experience like none other. The IMAX 4k takes the experience of 3-D to a whole new level.
With dazzling sound effects, vibrating chairs during action sequences, various aromas circulating the cinema during various sequences in a movie; the IMAX 4k can very well be described as the most engrossing movie experience of all time. At least that’s what the owners of the IMAX trademark say.
Last summer my friends and I were visiting Mumbai for a conference. We were a group of ten boys, all of whom had no interest in shopping at the local street markets or the glamorous night-life Mumbai had to offer. Honestly speaking we were too young to experience the ravishing night life. Anyhow, since we had managed to win the conference, we were definitely in a mood for a celebration. We chose to go out for a movie to Mumbai’s IMAX 4k theatre. I, like most of the people my age, had my expectations set high, especially after google-ing what an IMAX theatre was. So we set off for a late night movie. The movie we watched in the cinema that night was Spy Kids 3.
As soon as the movie started it was like watching a movie in DHA Cinema. The smells during the various action sequences were not different in the least. An infant’s excrement and a rose had the same smell. The 3-D glasses were hurting the nodes of our eyes. The sounds didn’t have much of a dramatic effect. The experience was quite a disappointment; so much so that we left the theatre as soon as the first interval ended. Our money had gone to waste and the spirit of celebration was extinguished after a not-so-great experience at Mumbai’s famous IMAX.
Anyhow, despite this experience last summer, I still have high hopes from the IMAX theatre that’s meant to open in Pakistan next summer.
There are several reasons that account for that. Firstly, Spy Kids 3 was a horrific movie as affirmed by various film critics. Secondly, the proposed project for the IMAX theatre in Lahore seems to be quite intriguing. Its spread over quite some land and it definitely seems to be different compared to the already existent 3-D experience.
Now all we can do is hope for the best but we should definitely check Lahore’s IMAX out whenever it opens.
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