Doc Corner: IMAX in the Age of VOD

Glenn here. Each Tuesday we bring you reviews and features on documentaries from theatres, festivals, and on demand. This week we take a look at IMAX and question why such a documentary-friendly medium hasn't taken advantage of the marketplace.

A funny thing happened in the arthouse cinemas across my home country of Australia this weekend: Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian Ark was re-released into theatres. It had been a hit in 2002, but it’s still odd to see a 14-year-old Russian art film pop up around the nation for no other reason than, I suspect, to throw some (very elegant and aristocratic) shade at the recently-released Victoria.

I bring this up because I recently visited my local IMAX. The proper IMAX with screens that stands as tall as multi-storey buildings, and not whatever fauxMAX imitations have popped up across American multiplexes. [more...]

So, yes, I visited IMAX and suddenly wished somebody had utilized the new digital upgrade of Sokurov's exquisite film and gone all out and made an IMAX cut. I found myself damning the missed opportunity. If they can do it for Raiders of the Lost Ark then why not Russian Ark, hey?

I had gone to IMAX to see a couple of the specialty documentaries that were once their trademark, but which have now become daytime babysitting services while upgraded Hollywood blockbusters like Deadpool (?!?!) are given prime time. I saw the 2009 coral reef doc Under the Sea from 2009 which has truly eye-popping 3D and cheeky narration by Jim Carrey, plus the newly released America Wild: National Parks Adventure. I was pleased with the former, but disappointed by the latter’s unnecessary use of an extreme adventure sport narrative that I felt took away from the inherent grandeur one expects from a film about some of the most beautiful locations on Earth (narrated by smooth-voiced Robert Redford, no less).

Nevertheless, they both work as huge, big screen motion pictures that use their impressive canvas to show us things in a way nobody ever has before. My mind naturally began thinking about all the other films that I wish would follow my hypothetical Russian Ark lead and move from regular screens to the IMAX screens. Naturally, documentaries felt like a perfect fit. After all, most of the IMAX exclusives over the years have been documentaries (not you Fantasia 2000 or Haunted Castle!). And let’s be honest, many documentaries would be helped by being a brisk 45 minutes as opposed to an elongated 85.

I would be intrigued, for instance, to see a totally reworked version of last year’s Peggy Guggenheim documentary Art Addict that ditched its bland and disappointing narrative of quirky outcast succeeding at being rich and instead gave the audience a large-scale, high-def dive into the world of her art collection. Likewise, other films about artists such as Salt of the Earth or even older titles like Paul Cox’s sublime Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh, which could easily be reconfigured for the IMAX format. How amazing would the recent concert film Björk: Biophilia Live be if projected on the world’s biggest screens as opposed to the increasingly tiny screens that typically populate indie arthouses (or, if like me, on your TV screen at home)? Sherpa has found blockbuster (for a doc) box-office in Australia, but I would love to soak up those imposing peaks on an even bigger screen. Fashion docs are a dime a dozen these days, but IMAX would be a stunning way to capitalize on their rise if a great one came along. And just imagine Patricio Guzman’s Nostalgia for the Light in a double with Hubble 3D? It would be truly awe-inspiring.

Obviously logistics are an issue – you can’t just lug an IMAX camera around anywhere, I get that, but that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from soaking up screens or Game of Thrones receiving special engagements. And while we're discussing this, it will bug me until the end of time that Robert Zemeckis made a two-hour film about The Walk rather than a 45-minute IMAX presentation that could have played for years and made much more than the pitiful $10mil it got last year. I mean, look at those grosses; 1998's Mysteries of Egypt, narrated by Omar Sharif, has made more than Gods of Egypt!

Original documentaries do continue to filter through to IMAX as America Wild attests, but everything I see suggests it still hasn’t reached its peak potential at a time when the demand for technological marvels is only increasing. That IMAX has proven to be one of the few places documentaries are truly event films is surely just the impetus a major filmmaker needs to not be resigned to a VOD future. Where are they? I don't know. Can it happen? I hope so.

Comments

[/3rtful]

VOD is a godsend for the documentary genre. Since more people are willing to watch a documentary at their leisurely convenience. But if you want to argue documentary as cinema -- it had better be a visual subject matter. Concert films and nature movies usually do the trick. But everything else preferable at home.

[Glenn Dunks]

VOD (and streaming in general) has definitely been a godsend, but that doesn't mean theatrical still can't compete. AMY did really well, surprisingly. In Australia, SHERPA has proven in only two weeks of release to be one of the most financially successful documentaries ever. It would just be great to see a cinematic filmmaker take the reins of an IMAX doc and use the format in a way that goes beyond mere nature porn. Consider what Christopher Nolan did The Dark Knight Rises - a movie that I like more than most because I saw it in IMAX and was blown away. IMAX is a doc friendly zone, I'd just love for it bundle that and really capitalize on it.