How 'Apollo 13' Started the IMAX Era for Blockbuster Movies
Ron Howard's space docudrama Apollo 13 originally hit theaters in 1995, meeting positive receptions on both critical and commercial fronts. The retelling of the 1970 moon mission gone awry was praised for its sincere script, suspenseful pacing, and stellar performances from an all-star cast of Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris. Barring some innovative special effects, though, the film was only so impactful on the cinematic craft as a whole.
The History of IMAX Canadian filmmakers first envisioned IMAX in 1967 at the Montreal Cinema Expo. Director George Ferguson was there to show his short documentary Polar Life, which was an experiment in grandiosity. The movie, or perhaps one could better call it a cinematic exhibition, put audiences on a turntable that slowly swiveled to pass 11 separate screens over the course of 18 minutes, providing them with an immersive, 360-degree film experience.
Apollo 13 was the first film that IMAX applied DMR to, and thus the first live-action commercial film to receive the IMAX treatment. The movie's original 2.39:1 aspect ratio was converted to 1.66:1, hence the aforementioned clippings off the widescreen format. Meanwhile, the abbreviated runtime suited the IMAX projectors' limited space at the time, but it also served as a means to rework the script for the film's newfound enormity.
While Apollo 13 certainly looks good, its visual effects still lost to those in Babe at the 68th Academy Awards. Ron Howard's film is neither an action extravaganza nor a science-fiction feast for the eyes, but a historical drama that just happens to take place in outer space. Why then did IMAX deem it the film to push themselves into the mainstream movie market?
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