dreamworld cinema

[RussellSmulders]

hi all i went to dreamworld and all posters and session times for movies were removed and it seems that dreamworld is now only offering normal sessions of curse of skull rock for free and no more cinema movies which is a strange move since this only just opened in the new year and it seems abit fast for cost cutting. so if anyone has any more news on this drop us some as this is very puzzling

[BNErider]

I heard that they weren't selling enough tickets to warrant them showing feature films anymore. It's not a big loss, and certainly the average guest won't even notice the change.

[Gazza]

^It was a stupid idea anyway, glad to see it fail, I really am. Seeing a film could waste about 1/4 of your day, and that is time that could be better spent actually riding rides....Hundreds of places in Australia I can watch a film, but only one where I can shoot up a tower at 160 km/h.

[GoGoBoy]

^It was a stupid idea anyway, glad to see it fail, I really am. Seeing a film could waste about 1/4 of your day, and that is time that could be better spent actually riding rides....Hundreds of places in Australia I can watch a film, but only one where I can shoot up a tower at 160 km/h.

^ You are on the money there Gazza. People go to Dreamworld for the RIDES. People go to Dreamworld because it's a THEME PARK. The sooner Dreamworld management realises this and stops trying to turn the place into a pseudo entertainment precinct, the better it will be for them. They need to concentrate on delivering what people want - amazing fun rides and attractions

[westical]

It's not officially an IMAX anymore is it? Waste of time and money...

[mikk]

showing normal movies was a very stupid idea. did they actually think it would work? it should have been kept as IMAX and promoted a little more. where else can u see imax around brisbane/gold coast? i could be wrong though if licensing imax has a huge price.

[www worker]

Mikk there is an IMAX at south bank

[ads086]

The IMAX at SouthBank is just the screen, they don't get IMAX films there

[themeparkgc]

I think they could have done okay if they had kept the IMAX brand and shown an IMAX feature film timed to finish just after park opening and another timed to start just after park closing. I think Dreamworld could turn the theatre into just a peak period thing.

[pin142]

Thing about IMAX is just a short film like the tigers one that was shown used a huge amount of film so a feature IMAX film would have been nice but couldn't see it as viable. Plus there is getting the film to the park on a somewhat regular basis and the costs for doing so. It is a good idea just too many factors against doing so to make it even slightly viable.

[JaymeDarcy]

On May 5th Dreamworld decided to stop feature films from showing at the cinema, obvious reason is because of the low patronage.. Alot of people in the Coomera area would visit the cinema during the night session as the cinema was open until 10. Meanwhile, up the tree they are tossing around ideas on what to do. The IMAX projection system that was there before the renovations was scrapped and recycled (It was massive!) to make room for the Real 3D System. It would be cool to get some sort of 4D system but who knows what will happen. I always have people asking me at the door if its in 4D (obviously they've been to Movie World before Dreamworld). Some like Soarin' over California would be freakin amazing

Edited May 11, 2011 by JaymeDarcy

[Jamberoo Fan]

I think Dreamworld could turn the theatre into just a peak period thing.

On the money - Only between 18th June and 14th July (Queensland school holidays) the feature films return with 'Kung Fu Panda 2 3D' showing in the Dreamworld Cinema. It still costs extra at $9 per person and is shown 3 times per day (11am/4pm/6pm). Dreamworld isnt targeting this feature film towards interstate visitors but towards 'Annual Pass Holders, Local visitors, International visitors and tour groups who are in park'.

[aussienetman]

I hate that dw took away the imax screen. Such a waste . No imax in qld anymore. When I worked at mw they use to pump the Asian tour groups through all parks in one day Seaworld in the morning Then to movieworld for lunch and Arvo Then paradise country for dinner. I feel so bad for those tourists sometimes

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I hate that dw took away the imax screen. Such a waste . No imax in qld anymore.

At the end of the day, imax films were rarely popular, and rarely were popular movies made in imax format. I keep thinking theres one in Southbank because the damn signage is still up on the busway, but nope - it was converted into a regular old cinema screen also.

[aussienetman]

A lot of good movies are converted to Imax. Dreamworld would have had more success upcharging for these upgraded imax films then asking people to go there for a movie they can see on a similar size screen. Imagine if DW advertised the Biggest screen in QLD. You could see Avatar, Tin Tin etc on a huge screen. Would have been a draw card for them and people would have made the trip to see it. I think they definitly made the wrong decision to remove it

[westical]

I hate that dw took away the imax screen. Such a waste . No imax in qld anymore.

I think Townsville still has its IMAX Dome, but doesn't get used much.

[CruiseSF]

At the end of the day, imax films were rarely popular, and rarely were popular movies made in imax format. I keep thinking theres one in Southbank because the damn signage is still up on the busway, but nope - it was converted into a regular old cinema screen also.

They are popular films now. Pirates of the Caribbean 4, Transformers 3, and the new harry potter

[aussienetman]

Yea thats what I'm saying cruiseshipfan . Dw really screwed themselves out of an awesome marketing tool hey....

[Slick]

See, the resurgance of 3D cinema and in particular IMAX has been due to digital cinema. IMAX all the way through the 90's and early 21st century was a prevalant but still niche format due to purely cost. The larger IMAX cameras were more expensive to lease and harder to get access to, getting shots was (and still is) a pain because of the limited run-time in film reels, not to mention reloading the camera over, and over, and over... then you're looking at your telecine costs (digitising the film), post-production costs go up because of the insane amount of data the sideways 70mm film captures.. and then after all of that you've got to print ginormous IMAX format film reels AND seperate audio reels and then get your lease-only projector from IMAX corp to match up everything and actually play the sucker. And all of this essentially relegated it to documentaries only as a result - given you can make an extra quid from taking your IMAX film and giving it to Nat Geo (or whoever) for a TV Broadcast, 39-42 minutes became the sweetspot for IMAX films - cost-effective spectacle format that at 40-odd minutes, would also keep the costs down for distribution of the physical reels. Need I say more? Now though, most of the IMAX cinemas you'll see these days are all digital, which has meant it's significantly levelled the playing field against standard 2K cinemas. Getting the films out there infront of patrons is same-same, and cinema owners are looking for ways to specialise right now (Event Cinemas with Vmax is a great example.) And to top it off, now that digital video camera technology is so big in the industry, most equipment centres that have cameras from the likes of Arri and Panavision (companies that much like IMAX have always specialised in film up until recently) will give agencies film for free or at little cost just to to get their film cameras out there, just pay for the telecine and you're set. Dark Knight was a great example of what's now possible with IMAX. The critical shots were done in IMAX, and given how fast technology is now, it's now cheap to get the rest of the shots re-analysed for an IMAX format screen. Also while i'm ranting this is all in part why Dreamworld had to destroy their IMAX projector. All of IMAX's projectors are lease-only, and given IMAX's film projectors are worth virtually nothing now, it was cheaper for IMAX to get Dreamworld to destroy the camera then haul it back to Canada where it would probably sit indefinitely.

[Gazza]

Out of interest, how does the size of V-max compare to Imax?

[Slick]

This'll give you a good idea of the difference - keep in mind that Vmax is actually 20m wide, so larger then a Hoyts retrofitted digital IMAX theatre, but comparing it to a purpose-built IMAX cinema (also granted I'm comparing it to the largest IMAX screen out there, Sydney Harbour's) you get this:

[rappa]

IMAX is a whole different world to digital and Vmax. Sure VMAX is massive (although my screen is bigger ) and had amazing sound but it's no IMAX. Your VMAX (or any digital cinema screen) has a resolution of just over 2000 pixels wide. The IMAX equivelent with it's 70mm film is closer to 12000 pixels wide! The sad thing with IMAX is 3D films only fill 2/3 of the screen due to the light from the projector having to be split between 2 lenses, so you loose a lot. I saw Avatar on the Sydney IMAX and it was amazing, differen to VMAX but each had their strong points. I had my friend with me who works for Event, I had talked up the IMAX screen but she really wasn't all that impressed with Avatar. So the next day I took her back to see a 2D IMAX doco there, which uses the full screen. To say she was beyond blown away but the sheer size and impact of the screen would be an understatemet. IMAX also has that kick ass punch you in the guts type sounds too. I know the head projectionist at Sydney IMAX and he says they are at least 5 years off considering digital for that platform, maybe more. If ayone ever gets the chance to see an IMAX projection room or projector please do, they themselves are nothing short of amazing.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

although my screen is bigger

It's not the size that counts.... wait... yes it is.