Venom is still in theaters. Which premium movie format should you go for?
Venom: The Last Dance is the second sequel to the 2018 film poisonand on from the 2021 sequel Venon: Let There Be Carnage. Once again Tom Hardy and his Venom symbiote are currently causing all sorts of chaos in cinemas. While it’s safe to say the film isn’t an almighty juggernaut either critically or commercially, it’s still doing business and you might be interested in seeing it in cinemas: but which format should you go for?
The standard choice is a regular 2D screen, but for a crazy action movie, it might be worth a trip to a screen that will make the experience more of a thrill ride. Accomplishing this task is 4DX, where the cinema seats move in sync with the action on the screen, along with splashing back impacts and water, smoke, air effects and flashing lights. While it won’t be to everyone’s taste, it can be a lot of fun with the right movie and Venom: The Last Dance it’s the right kind of movie. Not only that, but the 4DX version is combined here with 3D, which is now a relatively rare format. Venom: The Last Dance there is a RealD 3D version, but here in the UK these are limited, so if you like visual depth in your movies, (if not narrative depth), 4DX 3D is your best bet.
If you want your seat to sit still, but are still looking for something a little ‘extra’, then you might consider ScreenX, which displays additional photo information on the sides of the main screen – literally down the walls. I’ve had a mixed experience with this format. For example, it was great for Gran Turismo but less about Creator. If you go, try and sit about half way or a little closer – that way you get the experience of the image recording your peripheral vision rather than just being flashed in front of you, and since the screens aren’t that big, sitting closer you will increase your immersion.
I’m a big fan of Dolby Cinema, which technically offers the best quality images you can find (at least until Barco HDR-equipped theaters become more available) and Venom: The Last Dance appears in that format. This means it’s graded to take advantage of the higher brightness, near HDR capabilities of the system, as well as the Dolby Atmos audio mix. The Dolby Cinema screens also have really comfortable seats, so combined they should make the trip worthwhile.
Alternatively, you can opt for another premium large-format system that doesn’t have HDR, but combines 4K laser projection with a very large screen and Dolby Atmos audio – these are known as Superscreen by Cineworld in the UK, while in the US, you’ll found in the Regal RPX and AMC PRIME.
‘Filmed for IMAX’ means we can enjoy an enhanced aspect ratio of 1.90:1 in all IMAX cinemas.
Great though for Venom: The Last Dance it has to be IMAX, and in the case of this film it can be split into six different formats. The reason is that the film in IMAX has 2D and 3D versions – and each can be shown in one of three different projection technologies – either Xenon, (standard lamp), single laser or dual laser. Laser means a brighter, richer image and also 12-channel sound, while Xenon will tend to be darker and limited to six channels. If you want to go 3D, you want it to be one of the laser-based versions, and the generally darker image produced by the old Xenon lamps doesn’t do 3D any favors.
Venom: The Last Dance it was shot using IMAX-certified digital cameras, (hence the IMAX marketing film) which means that on whichever IMAX screen you see it, the extended sequences will be shown in the 1.90:1 aspect ratio, meaning image addition to the top and bottom of the standard 2.39:1 ‘scope’ image displayed in all other formats (see even wider screen ScreenX). If you can find the film in IMAX 3D with Laser, I’d say go with that as the hero format, especially since the 3D conversions these days are pretty good – unless you don’t care about glasses in which case IMAX 2D Laser is your top choice .