Article: IT CHAPTER TWO In ScreenX - Nightmarish Conjurings

BILL SKARSGÅRD as Pennywise in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT CHAPTER TWO,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release | Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Last weekend I got the chance to see my first ScreenX movie and I gotta say it was pretty awesome. The fact that the movie we were watching was IT CHAPTER TWO, and it was my first time seeing it, well, that was like icing on a cake.

For those who don’t know about ScreenX, here’s the rundown; it uses five projectors to expand the film beyond the main screen, and projects it onto the side walls extending to the back of the auditorium. It makes it so you get an almost 360-degree movie experience! To make this happen, the side walls are lined in a special fabric to match the main screen, and two projectors are used for each wall to display the image. The main part of the movie is shown on the main screen, and the side walls are essentially just used for extra footage to extend the scene. Like when people are walking down a street, the main screen shows you what they are looking at like it would in any other theater, and the walls show you the rest of the street.

(L-r) ISAIAH MUSTAFA as Mike Hanlon, BILL HADER as Richie Tozier, JAMES McAVOY as Bill Denbrough, JESSICA CHASTAIN as Beverly Marsh and JAY RYAN as Ben Hascomb in New Line Cinema’s horror thriller “IT CHAPTER TWO,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release | Photo credit: Brooke Palmer

At first, I thought I wasn’t gonna be cool with it because the intro, when they turned it on, made me a little sick, not unlike you would get on a motion simulator ride. Fortunately, that wore off pretty quickly and I ended up really enjoying it. The fact that you can look around and see “more” of the movie really makes you feel like you’re a part of it. It was an immersive experience that I absolutely enjoyed, and would be really great for someone who doesn’t like, or can’t do 3D. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in ScreenX mode for the whole movie. When the ScreenX was on, it was awesome. When it was off, it was a normal movie-going experience. And both were fine. What I didn’t like was every time it switched over, it very much pulled me out of the movie, reminding me that I was sitting in a theater, and a few times distracting me from the story.

But even with it being a little distracting, it was still a really cool movie-going experience and I can’t wait to see what filmmakers will do with it in the future! For more on IT CHAPTER TWO, check out our review here.