Bryan Singer recently saw his new film, “Superman Returns,” in an unexpected way.
At an empty Imax theater in Universal City, Calif., the director donned plastic 3-D glasses to watch an Imax version of the film. When “Superman Returns” opens Tuesday in standard-screen theaters, a version with 20 minutes of 3-D footage will open at 115 Imax theaters in the U.S., including at Navy Pier. It’s the widest release in the history of those king-sized screens.
There’s some element of surprise in all of this: Singer and his crew did not film their movie with multiple cameras used for 3-D. Instead, Imax Corp. tech teams took Singer’s footage and created an after-the-fact 3-D quality by adding digital “shadows” that mimic planes of depth.
How will viewers know when the 3-D scenes are on? An Imax official said there would be a visual alert flashed on screen (such as a pair of green glasses in the corner), but Singer said there’s a more intuitive cue.
“Pretty much when Clark Kent takes his glasses off,” Singer said, “you put yours on.”
