the standard gauge of the sound era was 35mm, projected at 24 frames a second and framed at the academy ratio of 1.37:1. 16mm served nontheatrical exhibition, amateurs and later television, and the 70mm grandeur process, used by fox in 1929-30, showed that wide film already existed; the 65mm negative and 70mm print became common only in the 1950s.
cinerama, developed by fred waller, projected from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a deeply curved screen spanning 146 degrees. this is cinerama premiered on 30 september 1952 at the broadway theatre in new york with reserved seating and printed programs. 20th century-fox replied with cinemascope, an anamorphic system derived from henri chrétien's 1926 hypergonar patent; the first release, the robe, came out in 1953, and the process was used until 1967.
rival large formats followed. paramount's vistavision, first used on white christmas (1954), photographed horizontally on 35mm and printed down to standard vertical frames; ilm revived it in 1975 for star wars. todd-ao, developed by mike todd and the naify brothers with the american optical company, opened with oklahoma! (1955) at 30 frames per second and a 2.20:1 ratio. panavision, founded in 1953 by robert gottschalk, built anamorphic lenses that largely replaced cinemascope's.
sound came in stages. fantasia (1940) was the first film with stereophonic sound, through disney's fantasound; cinemascope carried four magnetic tracks from 1953 and todd-ao six from 1955. dolby stereo put four channels on a 35mm optical track, first on a star is born (1976), and quickly displaced magnetic prints.
3d films, which create depth with special glasses, were launched alongside cinerama in 1952; imax later built permanent 3d theatres and presented digital 3d films such as avatar (2009).
imax was founded in september 1967 by graeme ferguson, roman kroitor, robert kerr and william c. shaw. it runs 15-perforation 70mm film horizontally, and the first permanent imax theatre, the cinesphere at ontario place in toronto, opened on 22 may 1971 with ferguson's north of superior. digital projection followed the 2005 dci specification, distributing films as digital cinema packages instead of prints.
related profiles; Movie Theaters, Post Production Studios, Movie Studios
sources; cinemascope, cinerama, todd-ao, imax, dolby stereo, digital cinema initiatives
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