Think big: The IMAX Experience

Got to check out the soon-to-open San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre at the SM Mall of Asia! It promises to "offer moviegoers a cinematic experience unlike any they've had before." Indeed, being an IMAX virgin, I was amazed at the sheer size of the screen when I saw it for the first time--it measures 22 x 30 meters, a whopping 660sqm! Some more stuff from my cheat sheet:

"The unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience gives people the sensation they are IN the movie. This is made possible by a combination of IMAX's powerful projector--which projects images from the world's largest film format onto a giant IMAX screen that reaches about seven stories high. The larger than life images are complemented by a 12,000 watt, state of the art multi-channel digital surround system. The San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre will have the largest screen in the Philippines and one of the largest in the world."

A bit technical, I know. Just a few more tidbits: It's a product of Canadian ingenuity. There are currently over 265 IMAX theaters located in 38 countries. The theater's got 586 seats with deep stadium seating (so no worries if the person sitting in front of you's got a 'fro), and they'll be showing stuff in 3D! The audience will be given special polarised glasses for such films. Tickets for regular 2D films (or docus--I'm not quite sure) are P150, while 3D film tickets are priced at P350.

Wearing our oversized 3D glasses (an event in themselves), we settled down to watch some trailers and a couple of docus. It opened with the Warner Bros. logo which was seemingly jumping out of the screen. My seatmate and I (tawagin na lang natin siyang Miguel. Haha) couldn't help but say, "Whoa!" in embarrassingly loud, awestruck voices. Logo pa lang 'yan ah. The T-Rex trailer was awesome! I kinda felt like it was snapping its jaws in my face.

They showed us a 40-minute 3D docu on Nascar (which was something I didn't care about 'til I saw this feature) then proceeded to screen the award-winning docu (in 2D format) Everest. It was cool because, not only was the Philippine Everest team present (including Poveda friend Noelle, who was literally all wet, having biked to the Mall of Asia on a rainy day), but it was also the day before the first Filipino ever made it to the summit. Coolness.

The IMAX Theatre (and the Mall of Asia) opens to the public on May 21. They'll be showing Superman Returns in June, with 25 minutes in 3D! You'll get to see Superman flying right at you. Tip: Get a seat somewhere on row L onwards. The higher the better

For more info on IMAX, visit the company website. Top photo shows me and Miguel wearing our "think big" goggles; Coni (in an FHM "Who the hell are you?" moment) in the background. Photo is from my trusty press kit--it compares the IMAX film frame with a regular 35mm film frame. The screen shows the space station docu in 3D.