The IMAX experience at SM North

MANILA, Philippines - Time was when SM Mall of Asia was the only place to be when you want vivid, larger-than-life 3D images in your movies. The giant mall’s IMAX Theatre magnifies images many, many times larger than usual to make moviegoers see, hear and feel more.

No wonder cinemas at the Mall of Asia get the biggest attendance ever, attracting people from Parañaque, Alabang and even Cavite.

Moviegoers from the other side of the metro, like Quezon City and the like can only turn green with envy. Not anymore. Last July 15, SM North EDSA management announced the grand opening of its IMAX Digital Theatre at the mall’s second level.

Edgar Tejerero, SVP, West Avenue Theaters Corp., hailed the new IMAX’s “most immersive and powerful movie experience.”

He added that the mall invested hold your breath — seven times more than it did for regular cinemas in the hope of attracting the AB market which shells out more money on their mall trips.

The money went to a lot of things, to say the least.

“We manipulate the theatre geometry and the source material — both image and sound; enhance the server, use multiple projectors, have automated diagnostic tools that tweak sound and to maintain consistency of presentation, customized lens suites to maximize image fidelity within our theatre geometry,” he adds.

If all these sounds Greek to you, it simply means that you get images so clear you feel that you yourself are among the corals and the fishes in the movie Under the Sea. You feel your pulse racing, your heart beating as the big sea creature snaps at the small fish and swallows it whole. The song Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (or Quizas, Quizas, Quizas in Spanish) still rings in your head even after you’ve stepped out of the carpeted IMAX Theatre. The audio system, with its laser-aligned digital sound, makes every single word so clear you can actually know exactly where a pin dropped.

There’s also such a thing as theatre geometry, which gives you a 3D experience any which way you turn. You see the sting ray’s very pore in Under the Sea. You feel the heat of battle as one sea creature attacks another in one grand showdown of strength. And you end up clucking over and over as the vanquished vanishes in one big burst of bubbles.

That’s going ahead of the story, however. For now, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is packing ’em in at the newly-opened IMAX Theater with an entrance that, as one guest puts it, rivals that of a posh airport lounge (Space Station ID, A Christmas Carol and Avatar 3D follow Under the Sea).

Friendly theater staff hand you a pair of dark 3D glasses — your key to the breathtaking viewing experience. Taking them home as souvenirs, however, is a no-no, unless you want the staff to chase you down the rows of cushy seats (there are 470 of them) and onto the carpeted floor.

Those with appointments to catch can come as soon as the theater opens at 11 a.m., while night owls have up to 11:30 p.m. to catch the last full show.

As for movie addicts who live far away from SM North EDSA or the Mall of Asia, Tejerero has good news for you. Another IMAX will open, this time at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig by late 2010 or early 2011. Cebu will enjoy the pleasures and convenience of IMAX before that though. They will have their own IMAX Theatre as the mall’s Christmas gift to them in time for the screening of Avatar in December.

Blockbusters in the IMAX line-up come 2010 are Disney’s Alice in Wonderland 3D starring Johnny Depp; Dreamworks’ Shrek 4 in IMAX 3D and Inception.

What about other SM Cinemas like those in Sta. Rosa (Laguna) and Iloilo?

Tejerero says they will study how the standard digital format in these SM Cinemas are faring and check whether the IMAX Theatre will fit the set-up.

Any which way, the moviegoer will emerge the winner. The sound from the 12.6-meter high screen has never been this crisp; the images never this vivid.

See you at the movies!