We Saw Dune: Part Two in Every Format So You Don’t Have To!

Editorials /

If you’ve just woken up from a coma, you may not be aware that Dune: Part Two is currently out in theatres across the world! I’ve already published my spoiler free review here on Screen Love Affair. In that review I described Dune: Part Two as a generation-defining film the likes of which I haven’t seen since The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s a sci-fi epic that must be seen on the biggest screen and with the best sound possible, so you can be transported away to the spice fields of Arrakis and immersed in the world that director Denis Villeneuve brings to life.  After reading such overwhelming praise you’re probably already grabbing your phone right now to buy tickets. However, you’re now faced with a choice: What format should I watch this movie in?  Depending on where you live, there can be a lot of choices too. On top of a regular theatre, you also have 3D, D-Box, UltraAVX, ScreenX, 4DX, 70mm, IMAX, or some combination of those formats, and each one of them is advertised as the best way to immerse yourself in the movie.  I’ve realized that many moviegoers face the same dilemma of choosing the best format for their viewing experience, so in this article, I’ll give you a comprehensive guide to all of the non-standard formats and give you my personal recommendations! For reference, a ticket to a regular screening of Dune: Part Two is $14.00. All prices are shown in Canadian dollars and don’t include taxes or Cineplex’s predatory “online booking fee”. It does however include the extra $1 that Cineplex charges for popular movies. If you want to read more about my disappointment with Canada’s largest theatre chain over some of these practices, check out that article here. The Formats Ranked #6 – D-Box: $22.00 D-Box is a normal theatre in terms of screen and sound, but some rows in the theatre are special D-Box seats that move and vibrate. These seats can vary in size and looks depending on your theatre, but in Montreal they were just slightly comfier standard seats. Each seat has a settings pad where you can lower or raise the intensity of the experience. The movement isn’t significant even at the highest setting and just more or less can tilt the seat up, down, forward, backwards, and side to side. The movement and vibrations are set for each movie to try and match what’s happening on screen to offer a more “immersive” experience.  Given that this is last on my list though, I can’t say that this makes for a very immersive experience. In fact, I think it actively detracts from the movie.  A certain meme came to mind when reflecting on my D-Box experience: I’m not sure what I can say beyond this is just watching a movie in a vibrating chair that also occasionally tilts. It’s a pure gimmick and is so distracting that if you’re actually trying to watch the movie, you’ll just want to set it to low or move to a different seat. Unlike 4DX, though, which is also incredibly distracting, this doesn’t change the experience enough to justify doing this after you’ve watched the movie in a more ideal format.   Verdict: 💔💔 I can’t recommend D-Box to anyone for any reason and for $8 more than a normal ticket you should just avoid this at all costs.  #5 – ScreenX: $20.00 ScreenX is a unique theatre experience with two additional projections on the sides of the theatre as if it’s extending the screen. The walls were specifically designed for this projection too, so it’s not just projecting on the walls of a regular theatre. There are two projectors in the middle of the theatre projecting on the opposite walls so the whole theatre is much brighter than a normal screening would be too. I took a picture just before the movie started so you can get a sense of what this looks like: On the experience itself, I’m more mixed than I expected. Of all these new gimmicky formats, this is the one that has the most potential, I suppose, but also has the worst implementation.  The movie starts with the side screens in full use for the entire opening sequence of the movie and I was very distracted by it. It definitely makes you feel more surrounded, but I caught myself looking at the side screens a few times, and they definitely don’t look great. I’m not sure exactly how they do all of the visuals for the side screens, because the movie certainly wasn’t filmed this wide, but it was clear that they used some very low quality digital effects to try and simulate what would be there. The image quality on the sides is also noticeably lower too, so the image lacks detail and clarity. To make matters worse, the colours on the side screens were noticeably different as well. Shots of the desert in Dune: Part Two are a bit more white than the two side screens, which had a consistent orange tint to them that didn’t match up with the main screen most of the time.  The other issue I noticed right away was that there were noticeable gaps where the edges of the screens meet, which looked incredibly wonky. As people entered the frame on the main screen from one of the sides, there were noticeable misalignments and slight delays that made it feel off. Because the side screens are more squared too, there were issues with shots not being lined up. For example a shot of the planet Arrakis from space very early in the movie doesn’t line up properly so even in my peripheral vision I could see the planet looked jagged in a way it wasn’t supposed to. It’s not the best example, but you can even notice a similar issue on a picture I took before the movie started: In spite of all of these noticeable issues though, I started to

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Dear Cineplex, It’s Not Me, It’s You

Editorials /

Dear Cineplex, I feel it’s only right to start this open letter by expressing my profound love for movies. The website you’re reading this on was something I created to provide a place for my friends and I to write about movies. More than just being a movie lover though, I adore the experience of going to the movie theatre. According to a rough count of my logged movies on Letterboxd, I went to the movie theatre 62 times in 2023. Though 2024 was off to a slow start, I managed to make it to the theatre 15 times so far this year. Theatres offer a unique opportunity for friends and strangers alike to come together for a shared experience unlike any other. Some of the most profound thoughts and feelings I’ve ever had were experienced in a movie theatre.  Like most Canadians, Cineplex theatres are the only places for me to see the latest releases. Whether it was the Galaxy Cinemas in Owen Sound or the Scotiabank Theatres in Ottawa or Montreal, Cineplex theatres are where I’ve always gone to the movies. I’ve been a Scene member for 14 years and a Cineclub member from the very beginning. I give Cineclub memberships to friends as gifts, I bring countless people to the movies every single chance I get, and I often see the same movie multiple times (Top Gun: Maverick & Dune: Part Two will be tied for my personal record of 7 times each in theatres).  Basically, the point I’m making here is that I’m a very loyal customer and I always have been. But you haven’t been making it easy for me, Cineplex.  Movie theatres have been facing challenges from all sides. During the pandemic, theatres were regularly shuttered, with some never reopening again. At the same time, studios leaned heavily into streaming services. Some movies bypass theatres altogether, while others get incredibly short theatrical runs at a handful of theatres, or are released to theatres and streaming platforms at the same time. The competition is fierce and if you track the box office on a weekly basis (or follow someone like Dan Murrell who does it for me) you can see that we’re still struggling to generate box office levels comparable to the pre-pandemic era.  It’s never been more important to entice people to return to theatres. It would be easy to blame everything on companies like Netflix and their efforts to send movie theatres to oblivion as they did Blockbuster, but they aren’t your biggest problem. You are your biggest problem. You’re doing nothing to encourage people to return to theatres, you do nothing to keep the people that do go to theatres coming back, and to add insult to injury, you nickel and dime moviegoers every chance that you get. Whether it’s your absurd “online booking fees”, your price increases when a movie actually does manage to pull in an audience, or your consistent inability to enforce any sort of rules in your theatres, it’s increasingly difficult to justify going to the movies or convincing others to join me.  I bet that most people that have gone to the movies lately might not even realise they paid extra fees or higher prices. If they buy a ticket online or through the Cineplex app, they are charged an extra $1.50 per ticket. That new fee alone has gouged an additional $40 million for Cineplex from the moviegoers that still support your business. Cineplex is currently being sued over this in a class action lawsuit and by the Competition Bureau of Canada, by the way. Also, you know all those people that went to see Barbie or Oppenheimer last year? Or the ones that have seen Dune: Part Two recently? Well they might not be aware that they also spent an extra $1 per ticket because you jacked the prices up for popular movies. That’s right! The Globe and Mail’s Film Editor and Chief Film Writer, Barry Hertz, brought attention to this recently with the premier of Dune: Part Two. For the record, Canada’s second largest theatre chain, Landmark Cinemas, is also guilty of this one.  But for the sake of argument, let’s say we still make it to the movie theatre despite all of that. What do we get when we’re there? Well, if the experience is anything like mine, then it means hearing lots of conversations and seeing plenty of light coming from phones or Apple watches during the movie. It used to be that if someone pulled out their phone, they’d at least have the brightness low and would try and tuck or hide it while they took a quick look. Today, though, I regularly see people scrolling through their Instagram feeds during a movie with their brightness on full blast, holding their phone up as if they want me to see them doing it. Hell, I’ve even had someone right beside me answer a call in the middle of a movie! I have people in my life that outright refuse to go because of the constant disturbances during movies. For the times I have convinced them it was worth it, they’ve been reminded why they don’t go almost every single time. Not once in my entire life have I been to a movie at a Cineplex theatre where I’ve seen an employee reprimand someone for causing a disturbance in the theatre. Not one time! Now sure, the problem here is first and foremost the people, but we don’t even shame them anymore! What happened to the PSAs before every movie about Sally Soundtrack and Tommy Texter? At the very least, if you’re not going to enforce any rules at Cineplex you can at least remind people that they’re not alone at the theatre and that they should be mindful of the people around them.  Since I moved to Montreal, I take every chance I can to see movies in local independent theatres like Cinéma du Parc. I absolutely love it there,

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