Giles

from New York Times:

The dragons, dire wolves, White Walkers and power-hungry political factions in HBO’s fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” will invade movie theaters later this month — on the big, big screen. An exclusive trailer for the coming season along with the final two episodes of the previous season will be shown in 150 Imax theaters across the country.

The critically acclaimed drama about rival dynasties in a medieval-like world will be the first television series ever to appear on Imax screens. Tickets for the engagement, which will run for one week from Jan. 23 to 29, will go on sale “in the coming days.”

The move signals a continued blurring of the lines among media platforms, where digital videos, television series and films stream across a proliferation of screens, from tiny mobile phones to movie theaters. It also shows the extent to which media companies are trying to turn their blockbuster hits into mega events, as drawing mass audiences becomes increasingly rare.

Maisie Williams (as Arya Stark) and Rory McCann (Sandor “The Hound” Clegane) in “Game of Thrones.”‘Game of Thrones’ Recap: Season 4 FinaleJUNE 16, 2014
‘Game of Thrones’ Finale: Sibel Kekilli Takes Home an Odd SouvenirJUNE 15, 2014
A scene from HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” which will conclude its fourth season on Sunday.George R. R. Martin Wants More ‘Game of Thrones,’ TooJUNE 11, 2014
“The tech companies of the world have turned it on faster and better,” said Jeffrey L. Bewkes, shown in June.HBO Plans New Streaming Service, With Eye on Cord CuttersOCT. 15, 2014
For Imax, the “Game of Thrones” screening is part of an effort to expand the type of programming it shows beyond its core theatrical releases, especially as the North American box office faces tumbling sales. The company has had preliminary conversations with other entertainment companies about showing other television series and also has tested technologies allowing for the screening of live sports. Music concerts also are on the table, said Richard L. Gelfond, chief executive of Imax.

“We see the past of our company and the future of our company as innovating in the way that content is displayed,” Mr. Gelfond said.

Other experimentation includes a plan to show the sequel to the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” simultaneously on Netflix and in select Imax theaters.

HBO and Imax started talking about screening “Game of Thrones” several months ago, convinced that the high production quality of the series, the demographic of the fan base and the branding opportunities made it a worthy experiment. At a reported $6 million to $10 million an episode, the show ranks as one of the most expensive productions on television today.

“ 'Game of Thrones’ is one of the few television shows that has the scope and cinematic qualities to really support the Imax format,” said Pamela Levine, chief marketing officer at HBO.

superdeluxe

Sweet!

Rypro 525

Its funny how stuff like Friends near the end of its run & ER towards the end of Clooney's run cost about 10 mil an episode, though all of the $ there went to the actors

davidh777

That second-to-last episode is a good choice--so cinematic.

islandclaws

Assuming the price is right, I'm game for this. That second episode would look killer in IMAX.

Dr. DVD

I'm up for it, if I can find it nearby.

Shannon Nutt

Probably your standard IMAX prices...so anywhere from $13 to $16, depending on what part of the country you live in. I can't see them charging a premium for this, nor can I see them offering a discount.

Decker

Small point of contention here : George Clooney expressed great gratitude to the producers of ER for casting him and despite the show becoming a huge hit and his becoming a mega-star during his run, never sought to renegotiate his contract or get a raise beyond what his initial contract stipulated per season. He had signed a five-year deal as an unknown actor and honored all five seasons at that agreed-upon rate before departing. That was the first thing I ever really admired about Clooney -- I couldn't imagine how much money he left on the table there. Any escalating expenses on ER were not due to his salary.

Mabuse

If it wasn't shot with IMAX cameras what's the point?

Giles

the same could be said of the all the Hollywood DMR'd movies that were shot in 35mm and uprezzed to IMAX standards.

Why So Blu?

I'm good. Too much of a hassle.

Defiant1

I actually saw the finale in a movie theatre (not IMAX though) so I think I'll have to pass. If they aired the first two episodes of the new season though, I'd be all over it.

RocShemp

Is this show shot and mastered at a minimum of 4K? If not, wouldn't this be pointless?

Also this.

RichC2

I've seen non-IMAX movies on IMAX before, still nice, but they were shot on film which is more expandable than digital.

Alas, GoT is shot in 2K afaik.

hanshotfirst1138

I think it's shot HDCAM 1080p 24, which is pretty close to 2K, maybe the DIs upscale to 2K for workflow, which is the resolution of most LIEMAX projectors. Just scale it up a little. IMAX won't be making anymore prints of 15/70, so if they doing it digitally on some multiplexes, it's probably a quick and easy way to make some money. Just jack up the sound mix a bit, and voila.

The resolution of 35mm is a heck of a lot more than 1080p though!

So I keep hearing.

Count Dooku

Defiant1

The show uses 6K cameras for certain scenes. They were the first to get the appropriately named RED Dragon cameras.

dhmac

I don't think Friends ever got more than about $3 to $4 million per episode (a lot for a sitcom, but it was only a half-hour show so less commercials than a 1-hour drama) [ EDIT: my mistake: Friends cost $7 million per episode for Season 9 and $10 million per episode for Season 10, its final season ].

But ER was able to get NBC to fork over $13 million per episode starting with Season 5 (Clooney's last) in the Fall of 1998 (!)

NBC caved in to this deal for ER due to Seinfeld ending the previous May, so they were afraid of losing another big ratings show from their "Must See TV" Thursday night schedule, if ER jumped to another network. (They also moved "Frasier" into the old "Seinfeld" timeslot to shore up the middle of the schedule.)

HN

for the last few seasons, the Friends cast got $1million each per episode so that's already at least $6mil

Rypro 525

Which is why ABC gets scared anytime the contracts need to be renewed for Modern Family, since its a large cast & they prob want that to run as long as it can

Matthew Chmiel

Doesn't matter. This will be released digitally and IMAX digital still consists of 2 2K projectors overlapping one another.

Giles

this.

RocShemp

Didn't know that about IMAX digital. That is lame.

hanshotfirst1138

Yeah, the so-called LIEMAX. Sound systems are nice and bass-y though, and lots of light. Since IMAX are phasing out the 15/70 as of now, I wonder if they'll put the laser systems into the smaller cinemas as well as the full ones?

Giles

but it's still antiquated standard 5.0 channels of sound - I saw Transformers 4 in both IMAX and 3D-Atmos - the latter had the best audio by a mile.

the new laser systems though will have a new 12-channel sound system with side and ceiling speakers ( to catch up with the times).