Spider-Man: Brand New Day Swings Into a Full-Room Experience With SCREENX

Movie studios keep hunting for ways to make a trip to the theater feel essential again. Sony Pictures landed on one clear path with its next Spider-Man film. The studio worked directly with CJ 4DPLEX to present Spider-Man: Brand New Day in SCREENX, a format built to spread the action beyond the front screen and across the side walls of specially equipped auditoriums.

Audiences who choose this version enter rooms where specific scenes continue to play out on the walls next to them. The primary story remains front and center on the enormous screen in front, but there are supplementary shots playing out to the left and right. The combination of the two produces a very broad, all-encompassing perspective that immerses you in the action rather than making you a distant spectator.

SCREENX is powered by a multi-projection system, with one projector handling the main screen and additional ones dealing with the side walls. The photos are all aligned using smart techniques like as warping correction and edge blending, resulting in a seamless image despite the fact that the walls are at an angle to the main surface. There are no special glasses required, which is a plus. The extra content is kept under control since it only appears at specified points in the film, rather than running throughout.

SCREENX has been widely used by filmmakers since it first appeared in films rather than only advertisements a few years ago. The amount of extra content on the side walls has been progressively expanding. Some films may only open the walls for a few twenty or thirty minute portions, but newer films can keep them open for an hour or more. Extra material is typically created from existing film or digital elements added later in the editing process.

However, Spider-Man: Brand New Day takes a different approach to the situation. CJ 4DPLEX despatched a crew to the set while the main crew was filming. That team took specialized photographs for the side walls, and this is the first time the format has had unique on-set photography generated particularly for it from the start of a major studio film until its release. Director Destin Daniel Cretton puts it simply: CJ 4DPLEX and their team came in to shoot content for the SCREENX auditoriums.

Jun Bang, the CEO of CJ 4DPLEX, described it as an advancement of the overall SCREENX concept. They collaborated closely with Sony Pictures and Cretton, utilizing their proprietary tools to greatly expand the visual possibilities. The goal was to ensure that they preserved the director’s vision while also immersing the audience in the story, action, and Spider-Man world.