“Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2″ will be the first films shot entirely with Imax cameras, the wide screen company said Thursday.
Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors of the two-part comic book adventure, will use a new 2D digital camera. As Variety first reported, that camera was produced by Imax and Arri, and is lighter in weight than Imax’s film cameras. The Russos are first out of the gate to use the 2D camera and will shoot 15 minutes of footage for their upcoming “Captain America: Civil War” with the technology.
“The Russos are going to spend the next 15 months or so designing the making of the ‘Avengers’ films with these cameras in mind,” said Greg Foster, Imax Entertainment CEO. “They’re not looking at this a week before they start filming or only focusing on an important section of the film. This is something that’s never happened before.”
Other major films have used Imax cameras for key action scenes such as the upcoming “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and last year’s “Interstellar,” which set a record by shooting more than an hour of footage with the technology.
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Earlier this year, Imax renewed its exhibition agreement with Walt Disney Studios, the parent company behind Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm. The multipicture deal begins this year and extends through 2017. It includes such films as “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” a “Jungle Book” remake, “Doctor Strange” and “Guardians of the Galaxy 2.” The company has a similar long-term pact with Warner Bros.
“These [deals] give us the long term point of view to be able to do something like this,” said Foster.
Marvel’s movies have been good for Imax. Last weekend, the company scored $25.2 million from its release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” representing one of Imax’s largest worldwide box office weekends.
