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Sunday
18Jan2009

McG Says 'Terminator Salvation' Will Be in IMAX

DateSunday, January 18, 2009 at 4:49PM
A couple heavy duty updates from McG about this summer's Terminator Salvation. In a Sci Fi Wire interview that covers everything from Schwarzenegger to sequels to Michael Bay, the director discussed two things that I thought were of particular interest to everyone.

The first component of this is that Warner Bros. will release the film in IMAX, although that wasn't something taken into account when the film was shot last year. "I wanted to shoot the film with this dead stock [old film that has been distressed to give the movie a desaturated look]. Therefore it wasn't conducive to shooting it in IMAX format," says McG.

"We are going to bump it up [to IMAX], and it holds up very nicely, and it looks and sounds that much more impactful," the director confirms. "But one price we had to pay for making those choices was that we didn't shoot in IMAX."

It's going to be a crowded year at IMAX, and frankly, I'm not sure how the large screen format chain will hold up. We know Transformers is going to be back there at the end of June, we know Potter is getting the IMAX touch, Watchmen will arrive there in about six weeks, and Monsters vs. Aliens will open at the end of March. It gets really tricky in May: Star Trek and Night at the Museum are both confirmed to play in IMAX, opening on the same date as the regular versions.

And because IMAX isn't a 14-screen operation, that means adding Terminator will be really tricky, especially because it opens on May 22nd, the same day as Night at the Museum. Maybe they just won't play in every location, or they'll play both in repertory. We'll keep you abreast of that situation.

The other interesting tidbit is the film's rating. McG says that the studio isn't pressuring PG-13 over R and that he didn't aim for one rating over another.

"All three of those [previous Terminator] films are R, so you've got a fearless Warner Brothers, which was excellent for us because it freed us up to just shoot the movie. Now, having said that, I'm not hung up about a PG-13. I look at The Dark Knight, and I think that picture was made compromise-free. I think it's an excellent artistic achievement, and I don't come out of there going, 'Oh, if it would have been a little gorier, I would have liked it more.' To the contrary. We don't aim for a rating, and we've been given freedom by the head of the studio to just make the best picture possible."

However, I'd expect it to be PG-13. The standards are a little different now than they used to be for what constitutes an R rating. None of the violence in the original Terminator would get you there now. So unless it's loaded with Scorsese-type dialogue or skin, it'll be PG-13.

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AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | CommentPost a Comment |

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