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 Anonymous posted on Monday, February 14, 2000 - 11:55 pm
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| I am not exactly sure what Iwerks is??? Is it just the generic form of a 15/70 film that we so commonly call Imax? And are there any differences in quality and format of an Iwerks and Imax film? |
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I guess it's easiest to start with a couple analogies:
Kleenex is to facial tissue as
Xerox is to photocopy as
Kitty Litter is to cat box filler as
IMAX is to 15/70.
15/70 is the film format that IMAX, the brand, has made popular/famous. But IMAX is not the only company that makes or has made 15/70 projectors, cameras, and other related equipment.
The name Iwerks itself is not a play on "IMAX," but rather the last name of the company's founder, Don. Don's father, Ub, had been in the motion picture business since the first days of Walt Disney animation. Iwerks Entertainment has worked with many different specialty film formats over the years, one of which was/is 15/70.
And there's an additional company or two offering an alternative-to-IMAX 15/70 projector, cameras, etc. as well. Of course, these non-IMAX theaters cannot bill themselves as IMAX, but they can show IMAX films. Does that make any sense?
I guess another more-suited analogy would be computer software. You might buy "IBM-formatted" disks for your Compaq computer. It's a compatible system.
Of course this issue is a political hot potato, and there's been more than one lawsuit over patents, fair trade, etc.
I'm more than a little curious just how serious Iwerks Entertainment still is (if at all) in competing with IMAX on these systems. Cinema Technologies was the manufacturer of the system Iwerks was selling.
MegaSystems sent me literature touting a 15/70 system awhile back as well, but I never heard if one was ever sold/installed, or who was making it.
And I believe World Odyssey (i.e. St. Louis theater) still produces them as well (mostly overseas installations).
There are many stories in the shadows the development of these big metal things that push light through 2.5 mile strips of plastic, but I'll let someone else pick up the thread and tell them. |
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| Jim Walker posted on Wednesday, February 16, 2000 - 09:00 am
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| I was under the (perhaps misinformed) impression that Imax bought out World Odyssey as part of a settlement in a suit over patent infringement. However, I suppose that might have only been in the US. |
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| Anonymous posted on Wednesday, February 16, 2000 - 10:56 am
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| Iwerks has historically developed projection systems for theme parks, mainly Disney and Universal (some key examples would be CircleVision, the Disney 3D systems, and Terminator 3D). It is only within recent years that they have begun to concentrate on LBE's (location based entertainment). One of their strong markets is in motion /simulation, another in large format, especially 8/70. |
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| Before I came over to the Regal IMAX team, I worked for three years as a General Manager for various Regal FunScape complexes (a chain of LBE centers). We worked with two types of ride movie motion simulators, Showscan and iWerks. The ride movie/simulator systems that iWerks provided were top of the line. They truly made you feel as if you were in the film, both in 2D and 3D. The projection system was a bit complex to learn (even compared to 15/70 IMAX) but once learned, it was easy to operate. The hydraulic simulator pods were easy to maintain and rarely broke. I found iWerks to be a well organized company with a great product to provide. |
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