Email to IMAX and their reply regarding Malaysia's IMAX theatre

Hey readers! I actually read my 1st comment on my blog today, so kudos to bewok kabo! Anyways, my intention for blogging about the defunct IMAX theatre was just that; to shed light on what happened to it and to make others aware too. I scoured the internet for news about what happened to that theatre, but I could only find an article in The Star Online (look under the "Cost Factor" heading). And a couple of weeks ago, I decided I would have to email IMAX to get some kind of answer. Below is the correspondence:

Thank you for your email to info@imax.com. The IMAX theatre in Kuala Lumpur is not longer operating as an IMAX theatre and has been removed from our website. Each IMAX theatre is individually owned and operated. At this time, we do not have a client interested in opening a theatre in Malaysia.

Best regards,

Sarah Armstrong

IMAX Corporation

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From: Abdul Hayy Zulkifli
To: Info at IMAX
Subject: IMAX Theatre in Malaysia

To whom it may concern,

I am an avid IMAX fan, and I was really hoping to catch the Transformers 2 movie in IMAX this June in my country, Malaysia. However, when I went to the theatre in Kuala Lumpur, the lady at the counter said that it is no longer an IMAX theatre, since 2008. I looked up Malaysia on the IMAX website and you still list that Malaysia has a 3D IMAX theatre. What gives? Is there any way you can guarantee a decent experience for me when I watch Transformers at this 'ex-IMAX' theatre come June 24th? What happened to IMAX in Malaysia? So sad to see it go. Perhaps you will consider opening an IMAX theatre elsewhere in Malaysia? There are lots of enthusiastic movie fans in Malaysia, I assure you. Especially in the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor area.


Looking forward to receiving a response from you soon.


Thank you for your time.


Regards,
A disappointed Malaysian IMAX fan

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Yup, that's pretty much it, folks. Perhaps contacting DiGi wouldn't be a bad idea either..anyone out there up for it? ;) Of course, finding out what happened is one thing, but trying to get IMAX to come back to Malaysia is another. We should also look into whether the IMAX experience is really worth the trouble? Was it really ALL THAT? What do you all think? Are we better off with the current 3D direction that the Malaysian cinema companies have undertaken (e.g.3D movies, digital projection for select titles like Angels & Demons)? Sound off below!

Have a great day!

Thanks for reading!

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen @ GSC Signature, The Gardens

Hello again readers!

Yea, the experience at Cosmo's World Theater (formerly known as the IMAX theatre) in BTS was a let down. I came in there not expecting much, so it was not too bad, but to know that all Malaysia has right now are the regular theatres is a bit of a let down, don't you think?

Anyways, caught my second viewing of ROTF at GSC Signature recently, and it was definitely a better experience, but was it just my imagination, or was the surround more discrete in BTS? Meaning if the sound was supposed to come from the rear left, it sounded like the rear left in my first viewing, but at GSC, it seemed to just blend in...

The audio, video were pretty good otherwise. Now if only we could get a digital screening of ROTF, (much like Monsters vs Aliens or..Angels and Demons) but I doubt it. I looked around for the nearest IMAX available to us deprieved Malaysians, and I came up with Bangkok at the Krungsri IMAX Theatre. Expect to pay ~RM25 for the cheapest ticket and maximum about RM40 though. Yeah, they have ticket classes..strange. Of course, you'd have to get to Bangkok first, so...Bangkok anyone? ;-)

In summary: I'd recommend heading to GSC Signature for your ROTF fix, but if anyone out there knows of a place better than that in sunny ol' Malaysia, please leave your comment. :-)

Thanks for reading!

Transformers 2: Revenge of The Fallen @ Defunct IMAX Theatre, Berjaya Times Square

Hello readers!

I don't really blog a lot but here goes. Last night, 23rd June 2009, 2000hrs GMT+8 Malaysian time, I managed to watch Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) at the former IMAX Theatre in Berjaya Times Square. Yup, for those of you not in the know, Malaysians can no longer claim to have an IMAX theatre. So let me enlighten you about that first.

Around May, I started to feel the Transformers fever, so I decided, what better place to catch ROTF than in an IMAX theatre, rite? And our beloved Malaysia happens to have 1 such theatre in the heart of the Golden Triangle in Kuala Lumpur. As "gempaq" as the IMAX theatre is, it never did have an online booking system (despite it being owned by DiGi? hmm) so we had to call to book the tickets.

When I called them up, they told me that this is a "2D show sir, not 3D", to which I said "Fine, no problem". Definitely, there are no 3D versions of ROTF out there. But she also used the words, IMAX closed already, which got me thinking.."What? No IMAX?" Since my lovely wife and I had yet to confirm the number of people we wanted to watch the movie with, and with my having doubts about there still being an IMAX theatre to go to, we put off buying any tickets on that day.

The Friday that week, I did go to Berjaya Times Sq (BTS) and (wow, 10th floor really is far up if you walked all the way from KLCC to BTS!) as I was arriving at the cinema, the signs weren't good. I didn't see many people hanging around there, there wasn't a single IMAX written anywhere, be it on the walls or on the posters, and sure enough, right above the ticket counter, the words IMAX were also removed. There was a comparatively small "Pawagam" wording instead. What pawagam? I have no idea.

Upon chatting with the ticket-seller, I discovered that the IMAX contract had ended in Sept. 2008 and was not renewed (she didn't know why). Curiousity got the better of me, so I still went ahead and bought 8 tickets for ROTF on the 23rd of June. I realised, I may get disappointed come 23rd, but I just had to know whether the cinema is still worth going to, or whether we should just leave the old 'relic' alone. As a small bonus/compensation rather, depends on how you look at it, I got 8 vouchers for free Coca-Cola from the snack bar!

And came the 23rd did. There was a good crowd, but not as many as during the IMAX era. As we entered the cinema, it was still as awesomely huge as it was before, that has not changed. They started showing some trailers but the picture was somewhat squashed, and the audio quality was not great! It was like watching a very big video presentation but with tiny sound. The audio could be heard from the front and the rear but not necessarily from the sides. In short, no immersion. The bass was good though. I hoped that when the feature presentation was played back, it would be different. Unfortunately, only the video got bigger (so yes, I saw Optimus real huge like) but the audio quality was still the same lame thing. Having said that, though the video was huge, it was perhaps a bit blurry. Perhaps it is the result of projecting the video presentation onto a surface larger than intended? To understand what I mean, try playing back an average quality Youtube clip in full screen. Doesn't look so sharp now, does it? Then multiply that by a 5 storey sized screen and you can imagine what we experienced that night.

To summarize: It is simply NOT worth paying RM11 for an "overstretched" movie with muffled, non-immersive audio, especially when we have 1 GSC theatre just couple of floors downstairs in the same building!


Oops..have to blog about the movie later then... ;) thanks for reading!

Windows 7

Salam and hello peeps!

Well, I finally decided to jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon.