Christopher Nolan screened the film’s opening sequence for the press last night (my invite must have gone to spam), and the consensus is, “Huh? What??” The Hollywood Reporter recaps, “A lot of key dialogue, particularly that of Bane, who speaks via a mask, was unintelligible.”

It’s important to note that the film is still being edited and it’s likely that this is not the final version of the audio. But, I’d warn Nolan before he goes too far down the rabbit hole of attempting to fix it. Vin Diesel movies suffer from the same problem and they rake in the cash. Be true to yourself, Christopher.

The footage will only screen in 42 IMAX theaters attached to prints of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Though these theaters may be a trek for many fans, they are the only ones that can handle the 70mm projection, and this is how Christopher Nolan wants the introduction of Bane to be seen.

“Our experience on ‘The Dark Knight‘ shooting and projecting IMAX 15 perf 65mm/70mm film was inspiring.” Nolan said in a statement which presumably had doodles of Batman punching crooks on it. “The immersive quality of the image goes beyond any other filmmaking tool available, and in revisiting Gotham, we were determined to shoot even more of the movie in this unique format. Giving the fans an early look at an IMAX sequence is a great way to draw attention to what I believe will be an incredible way to experience our story when it comes out next summer.”

So, get your tickets to Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, gas up the car, and pack some snacks. It’s road trippin’ time. Here are the locations where you can get your first look beginning December 16th.

Austin, TX || IMAX Theater Austin
Boston, MA || Jordan’s IMAX
Boston, MA || IMAX 3D Theatre in Reading
Calgary, AB || Scotiabank Theatre Chinook 16 + IMAX
Chantilly, VA || Washington, DC Udvar-Hazy Center IMAX
Chicago, IL || Navy Pier IMAX Theatre
Des Moines, IA || SCI IMAX Dome Theater Des
Detroit, MI || Henry Ford IMAX
Edmonton, AB || Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton + IMAX
Harrisburg, PA || The Whitaker Center for Science & the Arts IMAX
Houston, TX || Houston Marq*e Stadium 22 + IMAX
Indianapolis, IN || White River IMAX
Los Angeles, CA || Irvine Spectrum 20 + IMAX
Los Angeles, CA || RAVE 18 + IMAX
Los Angeles, CA || Ontario Palace Stadium 22 + IMAX
Los Angeles, CA || Citywalk Stadium 19 with IMAX
Madison, WI || Star 18 Fitchburg with IMAX
Miami, FL || AutoNation IMAX
Minneapolis, MN || Great Clips IMAX
Montreal, QC || Cinema Banque Scotia Montreal + IMAX
Nashville,TN || Opry Mills Stadium 20 + IMAX
New York, NY || Lincoln Square 13 with IMAX
New York, NY || Palisades IMAX
Omaha, NE || Star Cinema 16 with IMAX
Orlando, FL || Pointe Orlando Stadium 20 + IMAX
Ottawa, ON || Silvercity Gloucester + IMAX
Palm Springs, CA || Desert IMAX Theatre
Philadelphia, PA || IMAX & the Tropicana
Philadelphia, PA || Tuttleman IMAX – Franklin Institute
Phoenix, AZ || Arizona Mills 25 with IMAX
Providence, RI || Providence Place 16 with IMAX
Quebec City, QC || IMAX Le Theatre At Quebec
Sacramento, CA || Esquire IMAX
San Antonio, TX || IMAX at RiverCenter
San Francisco, CA || Metreon 16 with IMAX & ETX
Seattle, WA || Boeing IMAX – Pacific Science Center
Tampa, FL || Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI)
Toronto, ON || Coliseum 12 Mississauga + IMAX
Toronto, ON || Scotiabank Theatre Toronto + IMAX
Toronto, ON || Colossus 18 Woodbridge + IMAX
Vancouver, BC || Colossus Langley + IMAX
Vancouver, BC || Silvercity Riverport 18 + IMAX
UK || BFI London
UK || National Media Museum IMAX Bradford
UK || Glasgow Science Centre IMAX Cinema
UK || Odeon Manchester IMAX @ The Printworks

(via The Playlist)

Now, the part about how/where you’ll actually get to see the clip is a bit unclear. The rumor for some time has been that the sneak peek would be attached to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, which does indeed have a wide release date of December 21st. But AMC theaters recently released a statement that said only 70mm IMAX screens would show the clip, although that statement was quickly yanked after it was made. So, maybe plan on just catching it on your computer screen? I’m sure it’ll be just as good.

Oh, one more thing: Some photos from the movie have surfaced, which I’ve posted below out of the goodness of my heart. You’re welcome. (The Playlist)

When choosing titles for a “Best IMAX Films” article, the choices are always subjective. Everyone has his or her own ideas and thoughts on the subject. For the following choices, my rule of thumb was to select only those films shot with real 65mm film cameras, and reproduced in the theater with 70mm film projectors. Why? It is because for decades, that’s how IMAX films were made. Even today, with digital capture on set and digital playback in the theater, film still has more resolution and better colors, brightness and contrast. So for the IMAX purists, here are my personal choices for honest-to-goodness REAL IMAX films.

To Fly

To Fly was initially released on Independence Day in 1976 and covers the history of flight. It has the distinction of being the longest running documentary film in continuous release. If you like flying, this has great aerial scenes and lots of panoramic views as seen from the cockpit of airplanes and balloons. It runs daily at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It has been designated as “culturally significant” by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Everest

Everest was made by MacGillivray-Freeman Films and released in 1998. It is an epic film made about a group of climbers and their Sherpa reaching the top of Mt. Everest. The IMAX Corporation even designed and built a special camera for this film because of the cold temperatures and the fact it had to be operated with gloved hands. The price of admission to this film includes the use of an entire theater seat, but I guarantee you’ll only use the edge of it.

Look I am a bad person to be reporting about this. I only saw 5 minutes of Avatar on HBO, and the trailer made me uncomfortable when I saw it in front of Inglourious Basterds. That’s right, I didn’t like the giant blue cat-people-things. I’ll get up on my soapbox and say that we need better movies, not shinier, more expensive ways to cram mediocre movies down our dumb throats. But Cameron seemingly doesn’t agree, and he’s got billions of dollars that also disagree. Here’s the official press release:

James Cameron and Vince Pace Form New Venture to Accelerate 3D Solutions Across All Entertainment Platforms

Legendary filmmaker and 3D visionary, James Cameron has teamed up with acclaimed cinematographer and fellow 3D pioneer, Vince Pace to form CAMERON – PACE Group (CPG), which seeks to accelerate worldwide growth of 3D across all entertainment platforms including features, episodic and live television, sports, advertising and consumer products, pioneering a new generation of camera systems, services and a variety of creative tools that are innovative, powerful and easier to embrace. Cameron and Pace unveiled the new company this morning during a press conference at the 2011 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

CPG will build upon the strong foundation of PACE and the 3D technology to which its co-founders have individually and collectively contributed, such as the revolutionary FUSION 3D system. In combination, Cameron’s and Pace’s technologies, products and services have been responsible for $4.7 billion of box office receipts and have played an extensive role in 25 features, seven concert and music entertainment projects and 40 sports productions worldwide, including “Avatar,” “TRON: Legacy,” “Resident Evil: Afterlife” and “U2 3D.” This history puts CPG in a unique position to respond to the growing demand for high-quality 3D entertainment and to provide 3D technology innovations that serve studios, filmmakers, directors of photography, producers, networks, studios and broadcasters. The company plans to take full advantage of its position to drive innovations in technology and deliver products, services and creative tools in unprecedented ways.

In addition to making advanced technologies, tools and services available to the global entertainment community, CPG will serve as an industry advocate for 3D technologies, practices and creative tools that will help filmmakers and other content producers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling and live broadcast medium. It will also drive public advocacy by setting the “gold standard” for the public’s perception of 3D, which will result in compelling, engaging and high quality 3D entertainment.

“Our goal is to banish all the perceived and actual barriers to entry that are currently holding back producers, studios and networks from embracing their 3D future,” said James Cameron, Co-Chairman of CAMERON – PACE Group. “We are dedicated to building a global brand that is synonymous with high quality 3D and spans multiple channels, from features to episodic television, and changes the boundaries of what is understood to be 3D material.”

“CPG’s mission is to step up industry-wide efforts to help filmmakers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling medium and accelerate the growth of the next generation of 3D solutions across all platforms,” said Vince Pace, Co-Chairman and CEO of CAMERON – PACE Group. “Through our expanded reach and new generation of 3D solutions, we will deliver a variety of creative tools including SLATE²SCREEN™ 3D production services, educational workshops for industry professionals in FUSION 3D and FUSION 3D Mobile Workflow Units that support end-to-end solutions for both the live and recorded production environments. CPG will deliver CAN DO solutions.”

CAMERON – PACE Group already has an extensive list of current and upcoming projects, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “The Three Musketeers,” “The Invention on Hugo Cabret,” “Life of Pi,” and “47 Ronin.” For a more extensive list of CPG projects, as well as a comprehensive overview of CPG’s available products and services, please refer to, www.cameronpace.com.

PACE has begun the formal rebranding process and its operation under the CAMERON – PACE Group banner is effective immediately. CPG will be headquartered in Burbank, CA, at the current home to PACE. CPG is going to expand PACE’s technology impact by developing new solutions and implementing current solutions worldwide. These activities will require the company to both expand its existing staff of engineers and technicians and fill a number of newly created positions. Qualified and talented industry professionals, design engineers, software engineers and technicians interested in shaping the future of 3D entertainment are invited to learn more at, www.cameronpace.com

About CAMERON – PACE Group:

CAMERON – PACE Group (CPG) is a trend-creating technology and production services firm. CPG is advancing the future of 3D across all media channels by making the most advanced products, support solutions and creative tools available and accessible to networks, studios, broadcasters, filmmakers and creative teams around the globe. The company is singularly dedicated to building upon the strong foundation of innovative technology developed by its visionary co-founders, James Cameron, Vince Pace and Patrick Campbell and leveraging its unmatched 3D expertise to help content producers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling medium. CAMERON – PACE Group was founded in 2011 by James Cameron and Vince Pace and is headquartered in Burbank, CA. For more information, please visit, www.cameronpace.com.

(Collider)

_{Awwwwe, not again! I got greedy!}

In what might as well be billed as the Please Give Us $12 More Dollars Tour, James Cameron’s Avatar is returning to 3D and IMAX 3D theaters on August 27th. For those of you who are skeptical about paying for the "re-release" of a film that was still in theaters six months ago, 20th Century Fox has upped the ante by adding more than eight minutes of never before seen footage! If you’re paying $12 or more for a 3D ticket, that comes out to well over a dollar-per-minute of new footage.

The only way I’ll pay to see Avatar again is if the new material consists of Jake Sully injuring himself to the point where his Avatar is confined to a wheelchair, just like his human body. Now that’s irony! (Coming Soon)