The AMC-Loews theater at the Waterfront will lose one of its 22 auditoriums this summer and gain the future home of an IMAX screen.
The megaplex will be among the first 50 AMC theaters getting IMAX digital projection, with 3-D capability. All told, 100 systems are being installed throughout the chain, with the rollout starting in July. It's too early to know when the construction will be completed and ready for moviegoers.
The size of the IMAX screen, larger, wider and higher than normal, will require conversion of one of the larger houses there and removal of some rows of seats. The auditorium also will get a new sound system.
AMC is trying to capitalize on the increasing slate of movies such as "Beowulf," "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and this summer's "The Dark Knight" being presented in IMAX and traditional formats. At least three titles have been announced for 2009, with a couple for 2010, including "Shrek Goes Forth" in 3-D.
The AMC-Loews screen will join big-screen options at the Cinemark theater at Pittsburgh Mills Mall and the Carnegie Science Center.
(Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette movie editor)
Nancy Mosser Casting has picked up the casting for "Shelter," the Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers horror thriller that will start shooting here March 31.
Mosser is looking to fill six speaking roles (preference given to Screen Actors Guild members or those with acting resumes), some silent bit parts and extras. You do not need experience to be an extra.
If you are between ages 8 and 100 and are interested, go to her Web site at www.mossercasting.com for an application or call 412-434-1666. Mosser was hired after another agency was fired for using disparaging descriptions of characters in scenes since jettisoned.
(Vancheri)
Harrison Ford will return to the big screen this spring as Indiana Jones, but he is back now in another signature role in "Blade Runner: The Final Cut." Pittsburgh Filmmakers tonight will open this latest incarnation -- the third -- at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Ave.
Before Ridley Scott was Oscar-nominated for directing "Thelma & Louise," "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down," he made this sci-fi favorite, set in futuristic Los Angeles and starring Ford as a blade runner or android killer.
But when it was originally released in 1982, the studio imposed a more upbeat ending and voiceover narration. A decade later, Scott released a director's cut, which reshaped and refashioned the film.
This represents yet another version, with extended scenes and answers to nagging questions about replicants and the like, and takes advantage of new technology to make the print look and sound better.
(Vancheri)
The Motion Picture Association of America says moviegoers around the world pushed box-office revenue to a record $26.7 billion last year.
A new report says box-office revenue outside North America climbed 4.9 percent to $17.1 billion, representing nearly two-thirds of all ticket sales.
Revenues in the United States and Canada increased 5.4 percent to a record $9.6 billion, with admissions unchanged at 1.4 billion tickets sold but prices 5 percent higher.
Total global ticket sales reached $25.5 billion in 2006.
The biggest blockbusters of 2007 in North America were "Spider-Man 3," "Shrek the Third," "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."
(Associated Press)
The Tribeca Film Festival is turning to the local talent of "Saturday Night Live" to open this year's event.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's "Baby Mama" will open Tribeca with its world premiere on April 23.
The seventh annual festival will run through May 4.
"Baby Mama" stars Fey, a former "SNL" head writer and performer, and Poehler, a current cast member.
It's produced by "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels and was written and directed by Michael McCullers, a former writer for the sketch comedy show.
(Associated Press)
Lucy Fischer, director of the University of Pittsburgh's Film Studies Program, has been awarded the 2008 Distinguished Service Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. The honor was to be presented last night at the organization's annual conference in Philadelphia.
Founded in 1959, SCMS is a professional organization of college and university educators, filmmakers, historians, critics, scholars, and others devoted to the study of the moving image.
Fischer has written extensively about film history, theory and criticism. Her books include "Stars: The Film Reader," "Designing Women: Art Deco, Cinema, and the Female Form" and "Cinematernity: Film, Motherhood, Genre."
(Vancheri)
March's Film Kitchen at the Melwood Screening Room will present a program of mixed shorts by local artist Ben Hernstrom, a film studies graduate from the University of Pittsburgh.
He formed Ambulantic, an artist collective/production company, in 2005 and later began a film competition based on creating new art from "found" or "library" footage.
Also featured will be Shawn Bronson's "In the Dirt," a narrative comedy about a macho young man seduced by fresh flowers. He learned the documentary craft while serving in Iraq, and his feature-length film, "Team Predator: 365 Days in Iraq," played in local theaters.
The program will be March 11, with a reception at 7 p.m. and show at 8.
Admission is $4 and the artists will participate in a question and answer session at Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave.
(Vancheri)
First Published: March 7, 2008, 10:00 a.m.
