It seems China has gone mad for James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar. I passed the IMAX in Raffles City on Thursday at around 1am and there were people camped out to buy tickets (the above photo wasn’t taken by me though). I should mention there are quite a few other theatres where you can watch in 3D and I think it’s only here the queues are crazy because it’s IMAX.
It’s interesting because most Chinese people do not pay to go to the movie theatre but instead prefer to watch movies on DVD as discs can be bought for a very modest amount of money. I do wonder if 3D will be a catalyst to change cinema-going culture here, or if it will only capture interest for 3D movies.
China only allows 20 foreign movies a year to be shown here, but 3D movies aren’t included in this quota, presumably because China doesn’t make 3D movies so doesn’t feel threatened by the competition. So I’m looking forward to the day when every movie is made in 3D!
January 11th, 2010 at 9:26 am
They’re not in it for the movie. They just want the glasses so they can watch the next solar eclipse with the correct eye protection
January 11th, 2010 at 10:10 am
@Rich: in that case, some one should tell them that the glasses for IMAX 3D are polarized glasses, they are not the sun-shader type. Then all of them would be gone and I can get the tickets easily ever after。
@WoAi: I’m looking forward to the day too!!
BTW, smart business men who can see all the hype about (IMAX)3D blockbusters here should build up more IMAX theater in Shanghai – definitely more and more 3D movies coming around the corner. Not sure if all of them have IMAX version though.
January 11th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
I have been wanting to watch it in 3D too, but without the madness. So I will watch it when I go back to the UK later this week.
January 11th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I heard the IMAX was sold out until the end of the month and tickets were 200RMB each. I haven’t verified this information, but it seems ridiculous.
Happy new year, by the way! I haven’t blogged since before I went home last September. I should probably remedy that, but my fingers are cold.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Is IMAX really that much better than regular 3D? I’ve only watched in 3D and it was great.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:12 am
“that’s ONE WHOLE D THEY ARE MISSING.”
January 12th, 2010 at 10:18 am
There’s a difference between IMAX 3D and regular 3D?!?!? whaaaaaaat? I thought IMAX is the only kind of 3D? Now I’m confused…
January 12th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
@Mandy: yes, they are different. Any theater can show a regular 3D (though the technologies used by each theater might be different).
Generally speaking, an IMAX theater is the one has a “super large screen”. IMAX can also show 3D movies.
For some movie like Avatar, you can see more contents on IMAX cause it’s specificly made for IMAX.
January 12th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
@Wancestyle – Yes, watching in China is often a bad experience with people chatting, talking on the phone and getting up and walking around, sadly I have no choice, so I will watch it here.
@Bananaundercover – That’s outrageous, at least I don’t feel so bad about not blogging for 3 days! Yes, it’s expensive here to watch movies indeed. Even a normal movie at XTD is 90 rmb.
@Sarah / Mandy – Jeff is correct. 3D is 3D, IMAX is IMAX. Many theatres have 3D capability but aren’t IMAX. IMAX I think is more about the screen size and image definition. And not all movies can take advantage of IMAX, they have to be shot for IMAX. But having said that, watching a 3D IMAX movie in 3D and in IMAX is clearly the optimal choice.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:25 am
oh i made typos and i can’t re-edit them!!
January 13th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
It was pretty awesome for Pochontas 3-D/Ferngully 3-D.
Zoe Saldana is pretty hot, even if she appears as 9 foot tall cat woman.
January 14th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
well when I checked for tickets (naive as I am I thought i could just walk there on a monday evening and buy some tickets) It was sold out in every screening room of the peace theater. And IMAX 3D is only sold out for the next 2 days because you can only buy it in advance for the next 2 days at the counter. Apparently they havent heard about great inventions like the internet or telephone yet.
January 15th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Just watched this movie here in Imax. Thumbs up, really good flick. Also, I will be purchasing a nice chunk of IMAX stock this morning based on what I am seeing on the China side.
Its interesting that its selling out in China. In my theater, the place was only about 10% full. I think Hollywood knows the only way it can fight against intellectual property theft in the world’s fastest growing market is to offer their product in an experience that cannot be duplicated and IMAX will certainly lead the way in this. Just a hunch.
January 15th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
I’m waiting for the book
January 16th, 2010 at 10:00 am
@swiss James
You can get it here!