Game of Thrones is set to come to the big screen later this month.
A press release has been sent out by HBO, reporting that the final two episodes of Season 4, “The Watchers on the Wall” and “The Children”, will be played in 150 IMAX theatres across the United States. Accompanying the episodes will be an exclusive trailer for the upcoming fifth season of the show. The endeavour will run for one week, from 23rd-29th January. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, 7th January.
An extract from the release:
The IMAX® release of Game of Thrones will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images, coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio, create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie.
“We couldn’t think of a series more fitting than Game of Thrones to be the first presented in IMAX,” said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. “The scope and production quality of the show is quite remarkable, which will be highlighted even further in select IMAX locations – allowing fans, as never before, to become a part of author George R. R. Martin’s world that David Benioff and D. B. Weiss created for HBO. It has the action, storyline and epic nature that our fans seek in IMAX and we’re thrilled to team with HBO and our longtime partners at Warner Brothers to offer audiences a chance to experience it in the ultimate theatre setting joined by other fans of the series.”
Cian: This is a pretty huge, unprecedented (to my knowledge) step forward for the show. Whether the attached trailer will be the season’s first seems unlikely given its exclusivity, although it will be interesting to hear impressions on the whole experience once it begins.
UPDATE: According to a NY Times article, the list of IMAX theaters will be available on the IMAX site. We wanted to give you the link even though the list isn’t currently there. Just keep checking over the next 24 hours to see if it will be coming to a screen near you and if I get a specific URL in the meantime I will put another update here (Dame Pasty).
Set the countdown!!! An IMAX trailer is coming!
Trailer appearing on the net before or after the start date? 😉
Testing the waters for a finale to be a feature film?
Anyways finally!! Jan 23!!!
Joffrey Bieber,
This makes sense! Good point!
Joffrey Bieber,
No.
There’s exactly one IMAX theater within convenient driving distance of where I live, so I’ll hold out hope that it might be one of the 150 locations where this particular experience will be offered. It would be really cool to see “The Watchers on the Wall” and “The Children” on the big screen. But if it turns out that I’m out of luck, then at least we now know the latest possible date by which we’ll see a trailer for Season 5 (For the record, I still think that there’s a decent chance that we’ll see a trailer before then, even if it’s shorter and less comprehensive than the one that will be shown during this campaign).
I assumed the opposite. If they want to drive thousands of people to buy cinema tickets just for the chance to see a 90 second trailer then they really should make it an exclusive for them.
Which would be a bit of an FU to the rest of the world but ultimately HBO is a US service so I guess it’s their prerogative.
Ross,
F*ck them, no trailer for us europeans? Are you fn kidding me?
If you’re right many people and I would nerdrage really hard
I guess we’ll find out within the next few days.
Paying IMAX ticket prices for something I’ve already seen several times just to get a glimpse of a new season trailer? No thanks! Nearest IMAX theatre is a good 80 minute drive from where I live which Ive only made to see Interstellar, and out of that whole experience only the road trip with friends was the ‘worth it’ part.
Will a WoTW staff member attend and write a report? Or will you get someone else to write one for you? (I’d even volunteer if I didn’t live on the wrong continent.)
Woah. I’d love to see the Battle at the Wall on IMAX. That’d be amazing. Unfortunately I’m half a world away. Still, this probably means we’ll get an online trailer around the end of January. Probably not as extended as what they’ll show inside these theatres, but still, it’s something.
Ser Low-Res,
That’d be wonderful! I’m sure we’ll see reports around the net anyway, but having someone from WotW would be much better. We can trust them to rememeber the detail that others will probably not provide.
That’s a shame, I wish I could see it, damn you US! 😛
Regarding the trailer, I still think we’ll get one before the IMAX screenings, maybe as soon as this Sunday (though that is a bit of a strech) if not, next Sunday February 18th most definitely!
I will definitely be going to this. Always wanted to see Thrones on a huge-ass screen.
Seeing Thrones episodes in IMAX is an entirely different beast. Driving 80 miles, though? I’d have to agree with you on that.
That sucks. I’m from India, and we have only one 70mm IMAX here, which is roughly 1600 km from where I live. And I went to and fro by train, and that was the worst part of the whole experience for me. Watched Interstellar twice the opening weekend, and loved it to bits. It isn’t perfect, but it surpassed my expectations by a huge margin. 🙂
Back on topic, I think it will be interesting to see how many people actually go for this. I remember a lot of hardcore fans did it when The Dark Knight’s opening sequence released alongwith I Am Legend and again when The Dark Knight Rises’ prologue released alongwith Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Infact, Interstellar had an exclusive 3 and half minute long IMAX trailer for select 70mm IMAX theatres in the States which most of us haven’t even heard of, let alone seen. So I’m sure the ASoIaF/GoT faithful will be interested in checking this out. Hope someone from the WotW crew can watch the trailer and describe it for us. 🙂
Luka Nieto,
So. R u saying that the trailer Wont be released in YouTube same time they screen the episode. And watched only in imax well I am a continent away
Its all over sight videos again ..sigh
Kind of disappointed at this being a US exclusive. I’ll admit, the only reason I started to watch Game of Thrones was because I discovered it was predominately filmed in my country (Northern Ireland). There is an IMAX theatre WITHIN walking distance of the studios they use to film, here. Would have liked to have seen it screened there.
If there is a showing in the DC area I will most definitely be going.
Hopefully HBO will figure out a way for this to go international In the meantime, I will be in line for the tickets to my local IMAX theatre. Seeing Watchers on the big screen would be tremendous!
Some folks were saying that GRRM and D&D would “never” put GoT on the big screen.
I’m here to tell you that the finale of the TV series will be movies.
Stannis the Mannis,
Because there’s nothing like rewarding people who’ve paid $15 a month for 7 years to watch this show by making them pay $20 to see the ending at a movie theater. Doesn’t seem likely to me.
It would be interesting and no doubt spectacular, but I think it would be a major mistake. They would have to catch people up who are not familiar with the show which would waste a lot of time and probably simplify the story. I don’t see this as a satisfactory end to the series.
I’m pretty sure some enterprising person will record it on his/her phone and upload it on YouTube which will promptly be shut down by HBO’s spooks. HD version will probably never be available though. 🙁
Stannis the Mannis,
Nah. I think it’s way more likely that their eventual goal is to simulcast new episodes in theaters, or at least big episodes like finales. It’s sort of an answer to their piracy problem, without taking away the advantages that they get from the shows popularity among people who dont want to pay. From hardcore fans, they milk a little extra money as they for theater tickets to be part of a big public experience, while everyone else is still free to watch on HBO or download the show after the fact.
Remember the super confident people who were like “THERE WILL NEVER BE A GAME OF THRONES MOVIE! EVER! NEVER!”
Guess what? There’s going to be a GOT movie some day.
Guaranteed.
And it’s this month. 😉
I live in NYC….do you think it will come here? Nothing ever comes here
kanjisheik,
I’m ok with the trailer shown at the IMAX screenings being exclusive and never being published as long as that’s not the first trailer. That would be a major FU to all the fans around the world. Last year we got 3 more trailers after the first one in January, the first one was the best imo as it showed a lot of things without revealing that much unlike the later ones. If we get our first trailer in the next 2 weeks and the exclusive IMAX one is just showing new stuff, that’s really fine for me.
I wish HBO would just announce the premiere of the first trailer already, I don’t mind if it’s next week or this one, I just hate waiting and wondering if we’ll get it this Sunday or the next.
afeastfordances,
I know I would watch anything GoT related if it were available at a theater near me 🙂 ! But all the good stuff happens in the US, so…
The nearest IMAX from here is about fifty minutes drive, but I’d do it if they’re showing GoT and I can get tickets.
Wouldn’t it be fun if the GoT IMAX eps 9 & 10 contained an extra scene (or scenes) not seen in the TV version? Oh My God, there’s something afoot in the riverlands!! 😉
jk…I’ll show myself back into the closet.
Nearest IMAX from me is an hour train ride away. Ofcourse I’ll be going 🙂
Anyone have the theater list? I’m guessing it’s only in real IMAX theaters, not the converted fauxMAX theaters at AMC multiplexes. Only real IMAX theater near me is it a museum and it usually only shows nature documentaries 🙁
Hmmm… will this promotion happen in Canada…..
Will be going – have been pining to see The Children on a big screen…now – a bonus of Watchers!
Bex,
me too Bex!!
A Man Grown,
I believe it will be in the converted IMAX theaters at multiplexes as well. I dont think there are 150 true IMAXs in the country.
Also, where do all you guys live that you have to travel so far to get to an IMAX screen. Im in the Hartford, CT area and there are two within a half hour drive.
Just followed the link on HBOs website – no info on which theaters will screen these eps as of yet.
I am excited for this!! I have two Imax theaters in my town, so hopefully one is on the list!!!! 😀 Speaking of which… where the heck is the list?! ;P
A Man Grown,
It’s supposed to be on the Imax.com website within the next 24 hours, which I added a link to in the post.
In terms of people being worried about the availability of the S5 trailer, it will certainly be released online for all to see but to protect the exclusivity and marketing of this event, they wouldn’t do so until shortly after (like I’m talking hours after) the theatre showings. This is a fairly common practice with tentpole theatrical trailers and it’s pretty much exactly how HBO did it in previous years when their trailer debuted on TV shows like during Jimmy Kimmel for example.
Nearest IMAX is 5 minutes away. There are like 4 others, all within 15-45 min. I’ve got a very good shot at having this in a theatre near me. Seeing these episodes on my 55″ at home is pretty great, but seeing them on IMAX!! That’s going to be awesome! Oh, and a full length trailer. Yes Please!
We’ve got an IMAX in town- so I’m keeping my fingers crossed! A few years ago Time Warner Cable/HBO did a theatrical premiere of the first episode of season two (or maybe three?), and it was really awesome to see Westeros up on the big screen.
I’d love to do that again!
Well I feel conflicted….I live in New York City so I can easily go to this kind of thing, IN THEORY, but they’re usually either ridiculously expensive, and probably, sold out before I even get the chance.
Similarly, I wanted to go to that Michele Clapton talk about the costuming, or that GRRM talk about the World book.
I’m trapped on the internet. Might as well be on the moon.
I’m guessing it’s only at real IMAXs as well. I have like 5 fauxIMAX within twenty minutes of my place, which would be convenient. The nearest real IMAX is either the zoo or science center, both 40 minutes away meaning I probably won’t make the drive for something I’ve seen 10 times already. I don’t think they’ve ever played anything more adult than Harry Potter or Batman though so it’d be weird for them to have GOT.
It’s called “The Battle of Castle Black”, ArcticXiongMao.
This makes me wish they’d do this for entire seasons. Pack 2 or 3 episodes together per ticket, or make it a one-day marathon…just show them in cinema’s. I’ve seen it done with a popular Dutch crime series at an indie festival (? not sure if you’d call the Nederlands Film Festival/Dutch film festival that) and felt it was money/time well spent, even with the Dutch series shown not being anywhere near as well produced as Game of thrones. Cinema atmosphere adds so much, not to mention the big beautiful screen.
People who know more about film business: what’s stopping HBO from doing this? Can I keep on daydreaming about this happening sometime future-y?
Oh, you lucky US Americans… Europeans like me are left out in the cold 🙁 … Would have loved to watch 4×09 and 4×10 and a new trailer on huge screens /sigh
(Well, but there are anyway only 5 or so IMAXs in Germany, I think, and none of them near to me)
The Dragon Demands,
If you don’t mind, I’ll call it however I may, especially if you are still able to understand it. The battle takes place on both sides of the Wall anyway, so “Castle Black” seems rather limiting. Also, that’s not my nickname. I didn’t misspell the adjective Arctic —it’s supposed to be “Artic.”. And Xiongmao is a single word (Chinese for “Panda”.)
Queenofthrones,
Sweet we should meet up. Tyson’s corner and Silver Spring seem like likely candidates
I’ll trade you IMAX GoT for universal affordable health care?
Bex,
If they show it at Udvar-Hazy at Dulles, I’ll make every effort to be there. I didn’t realize they had an IMAX at Tysons. Thx for the info.
YAY!!! Lots of IMAX theaters here in Los Angeles!! Sorry for the European fans, but I gotta say: all of those wonderful tours they do with set pieces & costumes have gone to Ireland, and Iceland, and lots of other European cities. NY, Quebec, and many other places too. The one place that has NEVER seen such love from the touring sets: Los Angeles.
At last, I have a good shot of having a GoT experience here in my back yard 🙂
Why do I live in London
oh well hopefully they have a Leicester Square premiere for episode 1
Kyrenna,
Well since GRRM owns a theater in NM, that’s a distinct possibility. He’s shown individual episodes there. I’m betting it won’t happen until the entire show is over though.
WeirwoodTreeHugger,
LOL, you and me both!
According to the newest Making of Game of Thrones post, it does sound like the trailer shown in IMAX showings will be the first trailer we get for Season 5.
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/2015/1/6/got-goes-imax
Having an IMAX cinema in my city *YEAH*
Living in Essos *MEHHHHHH*
So we have a date for the trailer, then. That’s a bit later than expected…
YES!! I drove 300 miles round trip last year just to see the premiere in a college auditorium. Hell yes, it’s worth it! I have a couple of those fIMAXs near me (one with the reclining, cup-holder-bearing seats! Yeah, Buddy!) so finally something nearby!
My first thought (after a loud “Whoop!”) was that the movie/no movie argument was going to flare up like the 4th, so carry on, Sparklers!
Morgan,
Damn it! 🙁
Pleaseeeeee in EUROPE TOO!!!!!
CaliopeSnow,
Were we left out last year when campuses started showing showed S4E01? I can’t remember. It sucks to be a large market with no early treats like this IMAX experience.
Will there be a film? Should there be a film? All the coy answers from Grrm and writers are funny now.
It already is a film and always was, sheeeeeeeit.
Desperately hoping that our IMAX is one of the ones selected to show this. I would love to see Rhaegal and Viserion on IMAX. Too bad, no Drogon. But hopefully in the future. Like S5E09 or S5E10?
Oh, I’m good, thanks XD
I still value this definitely more than any GoT-related stuff… And in the end, it’s VERY seldom I envy Americans -nothing against you!-, I’m very happy to be German…
… Although German TV sucks extremely – British one is still the best!
this is stupid…there marketing campaign has been dreadful thus far
Doctor Who did this for its anniversary special but that was both live and the week following, not a year afterwards!
matt,
Getting to see the last two S4 episodes in full IMAX glory with the added bonus of the first look at S5 seems pretty frakking awesome to me.
Not anymore of a movie than the various Doctor Who episodes that have been shown in theatres. The 50th Anniversary episode did quite well financially for what it was.
I expect that they’ll be doing season premiere/finale theatre showings concurrent with the broadcast to capture money from people who’d otherwise be going over to a friend’s house to watch or pirate afterwards.
matt,
Complaints about insufficient marketing. We haven’t heard that before.
In a few weeks time, y’all be bitching that HBO is showing TOO MUCH of the new season in publicity.
Bex,
Totes there, too. (p.s. I know Fury from another internet life)
Bex,
Yeah, but it could be annoying for international fans.
We’re not yet sure (though the new makinggameofthrones post seems to confirm it) if the trailer shown at the IMAX screenings is the first one. Having the first trailer released to everybody on Youtube and then having an exclusive version created for IMAX would be ideal… but it looks like the first trailer would premiere with the IMAX screenings and we don’t know yet how long will take for it to be available to everyone, and as a fan that makes me feel left out because I would gladly pay to see GoT and the first season 5 trailer in IMAX.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Seems that it’s UP on Imax.com, but so many people are trying to look at it, and find their city, that the website is broken.. hahahahahahahaa! They just need to publish a list by state/city.
Morgan,
Well…..that’s bad news for Non-US residents. It says “exclusively” so
it will not get leaked in good quality. Aaaaaaaargh. Not a fan of this at all.
The Hound,
I believe it will get released online after the IMAX-week because it says “wolrdwide debut” of the trailer.
I Read the IMAX blog and found the same phrase as in the makinggameofthrones post:
So I guess that will be our first season 5 trailer.
Technically, it says it’s the worldwide debut of the exclusive IMAX trailer, which is true regardless of whether there is another trailer before it or not.
Just like every big trailer I bet it is released before the IMAX date for the screening.
Also, I think there might be 2 separate trailers. I bet the exclusive trailer is an extra small scene versus the standard trailer we will all see before the IMAX release.
They better screen in one of the San Francisco bay area IMAX theaters, or I will light the biggest fire North America has ever seen.
Lea,
They should. We have several IMAX theaters in SF, Metreon and the Van Ness theater.
Right now the IMAX site still says:
I have a feeling most major cities will have it. We have one in Wichita, KS but it would be more likely to be in KC.
I would say no chance. The IMAX release is clearly quite a big deal for them and it has been major news (so that also contradicts the person who said their marketing has been poor – it has been anything but). It will almost certainly be the first opportunity to see the trailer for Season 5.
I think what is happening is that movie studios (remember Warner is a parent of HBO, as in Time-Warner) and exhibitors are looking for more golden eggs. The trending has been to find as many ‘platforms’ for product as possible. Also exhibitors had a problem last year filling seats at movie theaters , right now stadium film theaters are doing special showing of plays, operas and ballet on their screens.
I can see cable services even pairing with theaters to simu-cast , say, GOT episodes on cable, streaming and a film screen. Would not surprise me if Season 5 of GOT got that treatment starting in April.
I am wondering if the ‘lock-in’ of actors for season 7 is a hint there may not be a ‘small screen’ season 7? It may be a movie!
Well, I think this speaks to the quality of the show and the high production values, the professionalism of the crew and talent of the cast etc.
Honestly, watching a single episode of “Game Of Thrones” each and every week is like seeing a feature film. Over an entire season is like watching 10 feature films!
I unfortunately made the mistake and went to see “Exodus: Gods And Kings”…and besides being a crummy movies for many different reasons, and despite having an $100+ million dollars budget, in terms of visuals, special effects and other production values it is definitely not better than anything I have seen over the past four seasons of GoT!!! It’s actually worse.
PS I hope there are some Canadian dates in there! I am wondering also, how Episode 9 of Season Two, “Blackwater” would look on IMAX?!?!
PPS Hell, “ROME”, the two seasons game changing TV series from HBO and BBC had better production values than most big budget movies I’ve seen over for past few years…and “ROME” came out in 2005!
A new window appears when going to the Imax site that asks for a user’s email to receive “updates” about the GOT tickets. I just signed up even though I’m sure that I will receive many emails from Imax that are unrelated GOT.
Hopefully this means that they are close to announcing the participating theaters and ticketing information.
lame about the exclusive trailer in theaters, not really all that interested in seeing these two episodes again for a premium… I have a feeling they are doing this to gauge interest in a theatrical release of something GoT related. Hopefully a decent quality trailer is released somewhere. HBO really dropped the ball in marketing this year (don’t know how they could have topped the disastrous poster art of season 4, but there ya go)
Has anyone found a list of participating theaters yet?
I’m assuming it’ll go on the IMAX site as soon as it’s announced but considering initial reports said tickets would go on sale yesterday, I’m a bit worried about missing it…
davyJones,
Full of sourgrapes aren’t you?
The party is just getting started.
Chris,
I’ve been checking often as well. Two weeks out and tickets and locations still not available! Either they are still working out the logistics of this or they have received huge public interest and are expanding it to more theaters, although not all IMAX theaters have Digital IMAX.
Hodor’s Bastard,
IMAX is regularly tweeting that the information will be available “soon.” Seems strange not to have the list of theaters confirmed before making the announcement about these showings. I’m sure that public interest has been huge so maybe they are looking to expand it. Regardless, I’m getting impatient.
mariamb,
It’s probably an email grab. Hype it up so people will get tired of checking back so they give up their email address to be instantly notified.
Don’t know how accurate this website is, but it seems this IMAX may be showing the episodes. It also has a very interesting picture that says “view trailer”- but there is obviously no trailer. But there is an interesting picture with POTENTIAL SPOILERS
POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR NONBOOK READERS
http://www.jordans.com/imax/movies/game-of-thrones
WinterRy71,
That’s a fan-made poster, and the clueless person in charge of this website put it up there. Still, it is a book spoiler. Not so much a show spoiler, but yeah.
WinterRy71,
Chill out it’s just an old crappy Lady Stonefart fan-made poster, nothing more.
Tickets, WHERE ARE THEY?!?! (Dark Knight voice)
IMAX Locations are still not announced as far as I could see. This very frustrating and I cannot understand the logic behind it. It’s not like they give people a lot of time to plan for it (there’s only 11 days left) or like they promote this heavily either.
Anna,
Agree – very frustrating. No information at all other than “please wait.”