Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had its world premiere in Tokyo last night, but the film’s still not quite 100% completed. Michael Bay posted an update on his forums yesterday of the film’s progress, saying it was “just about finished.” The bigger news, however, comes from the revelation that the IMAX version will not only feature the 4 scenes that were shot on IMAX 70-mm film in full 50-foot glory, but will actually be a longer cut of the movie. Theatergoers who forego the IMAX experience will give up extra robot fighting and a “perfectly to scale” 50-foot tall Optimus Prime.

I understand some movie fans just don’t want to shell out the extra few bucks for an IMAX ticket, or otherwise feel the larger screen doesn’t make much of a difference. But when a film, like The Dark Knight and now Transformers 2, is shot natively on IMAX, you NEED to see it in its full glory. The effect of a fully filled IMAX screen really is breathtaking, and with Transformers 2 being the first film to have character animation rendered at 4k onto that 70-mm film stock, viewers would do well to check out the finished product, which is literally stuff you’ve never seen before. And now with the extra footage, Bay really is giving you all the incentive you need to see his movie on an IMAX screen. His full forum post is below:

Hey everyone, 

In Japan today. After a month and half seven days a week most days going till midnight me and my crew have just about finished Transformers. I have never seen such a level of dedication from every crew member in a movie before.

Even today after the press in Japan and right before the premiere tonight, I have to sneak out to a digital house to approve the last few effect shots. 

It has been a long hard road, but really fun one to travel. What you will notice that is strikingly different than Transformers 1, is the level of animation detail. The robot characters (42 in all), you really can feel empathy for them. What is also very different is the sheer scale of the movie. We have been very tight holding back much of the best imagery in commercials and trailers.

The way to see this movie is on IMAX. Never before has there been 4k rendered character animation shot on full IMAX 70 mm film. This is a first and the results are stunning. You will see Optimus Prime in a few shots where he is actually perfectly to scale on the IMAX 50 foot tall screens.

For IMAX, I created a slightly longer cut with more robot fighting. Four scenes were shot on IMAX cameras so the screen will fill the full IMAX screen for these scenes. 

Haters beware.

Michael

Tags: Michael Bay, Transformers 2, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen