Expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe with IMAX Enhanced on Disney+
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings now streaming on Disney+
Think back to the last time you ventured out to see the most anticipated movie of the year on opening night with your family and friends. You probably scrambled to secure tickets days in advance. Maybe you met up beforehand to discuss backstories and debate predictions. Perhaps you even dressed up in costume! But one thing is certain: If you had the option, you were determined to see it in IMAX.
Envision it: As you arrive, you’re greeted by the aroma of fresh, buttery popcorn. You float up a cascade of escalators and there’s a buzz of electricity as you enter the theater. Then, when you sit down, your eyes instantly fixate on the enormous silver canvas in front of you, soon to be painted with magic. The action kicks off with a bang, which you feel with each thump of your heart and through the rumble beneath your seat. Your eyes are peeled back as you pan your head across the screen, absorbing the intensity of every moment. And then finally, against all odds, everyone’s favorite hero avenges the enemy and saves the day.
That experience, and the thrill of reliving it, is what drives filmmakers to pour their souls into their work. However, you may not realize that the version of the movie you saw was specifically mastered for IMAX — with bigger picture and bigger sound. Yet in most cases, at the end of the movie’s theatrical run, that IMAX version was never distributed for viewing at home or on the go.
Framing a Collaboration
This presented a unique opportunity for Disney Streaming that came to our attention in early 2019, before the global launch of Disney+. Having led successful theatrical campaigns together for years, Marvel and IMAX approached us with the idea to develop an exclusive presentation of MCU titles for the flagship streaming service. Could we revitalize those IMAX versions to emulate a large-scale experience in the home environment?
We considered how rapidly home theater technology continues to evolve — for example, UHD HDR displays and multidimensional audio systems become more affordable and accessible every season. Today, you can equip your space with a more sophisticated picture and sound setup than many movie theaters had just a decade ago. And with so many people spending more time at home, living rooms are transforming into entertainment sanctuaries.
Our mission is to make Disney+ the best way to watch movies and shows from all our content brands, like Marvel, Disney, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic — a mission aligned with the IMAX Enhanced initiative. For content, IMAX Enhanced includes a suite of media production, processing, and presentation features that, together, deliver a premium entertainment experience beyond the theater.
Bringing New Heights to Widescreen
On Disney+ Day 2021, we introduced a key component of the IMAX Enhanced feature suite, IMAX’s 1.90:1 expanded aspect ratio. This adds up to 26% more viewable action on screen. How? The taller frame reduces the amount of horizontal matting (i.e. “black bars”) applied to the video, fitting nicely inside today’s TVs.
To help contextualize the difference, let’s review the role of the aspect ratio in the filmmaking process. Aspect ratio is the quantitative relationship between the width and height of an image. For example, a square image’s width and height are equal, so its aspect ratio is 1:1. Television was originally broadcast using a 4:3 aspect ratio, where the width-to-height is four parts to three. If you’ve recently encountered an aspect ratio in the wild, it was most likely 16:9 (which can also be expressed as 1.78:1, or simply 1.78) since that’s been the standard for modern displays since the rollout of HD content and devices.
Now, most people don’t spend any time at all considering aspect ratios. But that’s not true of filmmakers, or really any artist. When it comes to visual storytelling, choosing what aspect ratio to work with is among the most foundational decisions of the creative process. Imagine a painter constructing the frame for their canvas — that choice will define the bounds of their vision before they’ve committed a single stroke.
For a long time, movies were shot and screened in the boxy 1.37:1. In the 1950s, directors and cinematographers transitioned to widescreen formats still in use today, generally ranging from 1.85:1 to 2.4:1. But in the mid-2000s, Hollywood turned to IMAX’s unique combination of large-scale camera, film, and projection technologies to deliver an immersive experience for their tentpole productions — how else could you capture the full scope of Tony Stark’s escapades? However, studios would also cut a widescreen version for non-IMAX theaters, and later for digital distribution. That is, until now.
A New Experience Using Existing Architecture
Conveniently, Disney Streaming had previously implemented a way to provide content in multiple aspect ratios, so we were starting from a good place. Better yet, this architecture satisfied two of our top-level goals for the final solution design.
First, we wanted all of our viewers to enjoy the expanded aspect ratio without requiring special equipment. Second, we wanted to maintain broad localization for our global customer base. Reusing this architecture worked because the IMAX and widescreen video are 1) encoded similarly, meaning they’d be supported across the same breadth of devices; and 2) temporally identical, meaning the existing audio and subtitles would match up in sync. For now, the only difference between the versions is the active picture area.
Finally, we wanted to showcase that these movies are available with IMAX Enhanced features while preserving access to the widescreen versions. This gave us the chance to pilot a new approach to our content hierarchy by adding a Versions tab to the Movie Details screen. Aside from IMAX versions, this UI pattern could foster discovery of other types of movie versions in the future.
After seeing the incredible reaction from filmmakers and viewers alike, we’re excited about the next phase to introduce additional features, this time focused primarily on audio. So get your floorboards and your neighbors ready for the deep, booming bass and broad dynamic range you felt in the theaters, but right in your home with IMAX Enhanced on Disney+.
Acknowledgements
Joe Rice, Kristie Adler, Will Weiss, Mitch Ginsburg, Jonathan Shutt, Lucas Gruber, Brandon San Giovanni, Matt Bezerman, and everyone who helped bring IMAX Enhanced to Disney+
