Projector company Barco has announced that from 15 November five theatres in the USA will present the upcoming movie Red One, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, in HDR by Barco. This follows on from Transformers One, released in September 2024, which was the first movie graded for the format.
HDR by Barco uses Light Steering technology to bring the benefits of full high dynamic range images to the cinema screen. To find out more about how the technology works check out the recent conversation I had with Barco, EVP Gerwin Damberg, one of the inventors of the system.
While it’s good to see the tech getting a second outing, judging by the websites for each of the three chains, AMC, Regal, and B&B, I can’t help but wonder if Barco has a branding issue for the new tech. This is because rather than a distinct format of its own, a la Dolby Cinema, which as well as the projector includes the décor and seats and audio, Barco by HDR only refers to the projection technology used.
If you’re a fan of the latest cinema tech note that HDR by Barco doesn’t get its own branding but … [+]
As such, AMC is simply listing it as “Prime with HDR”, but only with text: it does not form part of the AMC Prime logo. Similarly, Regal lists the showing as just “RPX” but also writes out “HDR by Barco” in the description. Meanwhile, we can only presume the Barco HDR projector is installed in B&B Theatres’ Grand Screen in Dallas, as the website makes no mention of it.
And while it would be somewhat Scrooge-like to disparage blatant Christmas fare such as Red One, I do hope that HDR by Barco grading is soon used with a movie with a bit more critical heft (unless it will only ever be used with movie featuring “One” in the title—but hopefully, this is just due to it being early days and more ‘worthy’ HDR-graded projects will arrive in time.
If for fans who want to see The Rock and Mr Evans in full HDR glory the screens are:
The five theaters are listed here.
- AMC Americana at Brand 18 (Los Angeles, CA);
- AMC Barrywoods 24 (Kansas City, MO);
- B&B Theatres Red Oak 12 (Dallas, TX);
- Regal Dania Pointe (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL);
- Regal Times Square (New York, NY).
This post was originally published on here
