Marcus Theatres unveils ScreenX, movie theater with 270-degree screen, at Ridge Cinema

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·3 min read

Marcus Theatres on Monday unveiled Wisconsin's first ScreenX widescreen auditorium, with 270-degree projection providing one of the most visually immersive movie experiences available.

The new ScreenX auditorium is at Marcus' Ridge Cinema, 5200 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin. The first new release that will play in the format will be "The Creator," a sci-fi action fantasy starring John David Washington due in theaters Sept. 29.

“This is built for the more visually spectacular film,” Greg Marcus, the chairman, president and CEO of Marcus Theatres parent Marcus Corp., said Monday.

Unlike IMAX, an expanded-screen theatrical format that uses dual projection to create an enhanced image, ScreenX projects specially selected sequences of a film onto the left- and right-hand side walls of the auditorium, wrapping the image around the audience, Duncan Macdonald, head of worldwide marketing and theater development-Americas for ScreenX developer CJ 4DPLEX, said at the Marcus Ridge Monday.

A team of visual effects artists works with studios to adapt footage for the three-projector experience, Macdonald said, but not for the entire movie. In most movies, about 50 minutes of content is adapted to the wrap-around treatment, focusing on "scenes selected to maximize the experience," he said.

Monday's unveiling at the Ridge included a screening of "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1" in the ScreenX format. Other summer movies adapted to the format include "The Flash," "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "Fast X."

The format also has been used for several concert movies, although not — unfortunately, Greg Marcus added — for what's likely to be the biggest big-screen concert movie in years, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," coming to theaters Oct. 13.

A scene from "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Oscar-winning movie adapted using the 270-degree ScreenX widescreen format, shown at Marcus Theatres' Ridge Cinema. The Ridge has Wisconsin's first ScreenX auditorium; for selected scenes the image wraps around the auditorium.
A scene from "Bohemian Rhapsody," the Oscar-winning movie adapted using the 270-degree ScreenX widescreen format, shown at Marcus Theatres' Ridge Cinema. The Ridge has Wisconsin's first ScreenX auditorium; for selected scenes the image wraps around the auditorium.

About 17 movies in all are planned for release in the ScreenX format this year, Marcus said, with another 20 expected next year.

For comparison, there were only a handful of movies shown in Cinerama, Hollywood's highest-profile foray into widescreen projection in the 1950s. Cinerama used a three-camera process, projecting a 142-degree image.

“I guess what’s old is new," Marcus said Monday. "They’ve been working on extended projection for years, and this is the newest iteration in a way that works with today’s ... movie theaters."

CJ 4DPLEX, which launched ScreenX in 2012, has several other enhanced-format systems for theaters. Marcus Theatres has a theater using its 4DX format at its Gurnee Mills Cinema in Illinois. The ScreenX format is on more than 360 screens in 37 countries; among the U.S. locations is B&B Theatres' Bloomington 13 at the Mall of America in Minnesota.

Milwaukee's no stranger to wrap-around visual entertainment. In the 19th century, Milwaukee artists became known nationwide for their detailed paintings for cycloramas, 360-degree depictions of scenes from history and legend. One of the Milwaukee-created cycloramas still on display is the painting of the Civil War Battle of Atlanta at the Atlanta History Center.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marcus Theatres unveils its first 270-degree ScreenX auditorium