New England theater one of just 30 in the world to see this Hollywood blockbuster as intended

Director Christopher Nolan wants to take moviegoers inside the explosion of an atomic bomb. One New England theater will bring you closer than almost any other.

When Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ hits theaters in July, the Providence Place Cinemas 16 in Rhode Island will present the $100 million epic on IMAX 70mm film, one of just 30 movie theaters in the world to do so.

Without getting too technical, 70mm is regarded as the best possible projection for films. Frames are more than three times larger than a typical celluloid, allowing for a much richer and fuller picture than is typically found in modern theaters. IMAX 70mm offers an even crisper picture.

“The IMAX film format is the Gold Standard of motion picture photography. It’s the highest-quality of imaging format ever devised. It gives you an incredible sense of immersion in the image. The clarity, the crispness, it is the gold standard,” says Nolan.

The 70mm format was frequently utilized in the late 1900s but has faded in popularity with the advent of digital film-making. Few modern movie theaters have the ability to screen 70mm films and even fewer have the ability to screen in the expanded IMAX format.

Nolan recently demonstrated the extra effort that goes into carrying a film in the pristine format, including 11 miles of film reel.

In addition to the upscale picture, portions of ‘Oppenheimer’ were filmed in black and white, meaning Nolan had to practically invent a new format of film.

The film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who oversaw the development of first atomic bomb during World War II, drops on July 21. The pristine film formats will be especially pivotal in viewing the Trinity Test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.

“We knew that this had to be the showstopper. We’re able to do things with picture now that before we were really only able to do with sound in terms of an oversize impact for the audience, an almost physical sense of response to the film,” said Nolan in a recent interview.

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