Venom: The Last Dance is the second sequel to the 2018 film Venom, and following on from the 2021 sequel Venon: Let There Be Carnage. Once again Tom Hardy and his symbiote Venom, are currently causing all sorts of mayhem in theaters. While it’s safe to say the movie is not an all-conquering juggernaut either critically or commercially, it’s still doing the business and you might be interested in checking it out in theatres: but which format should you go for?
The standard choice is a regular 2D screen, but for a crazy action film, it might be worth a trip to a screen that will make the experience more of a thrill ride. Fulfilling this remit is 4DX, where the cinema seats move in synchronization with the action on the screen, along with pounding your back with impacts and water, smoke, air effects, and flashing lights. While it won’t be to everyone’s taste it can be a lot of fun with the right movie and Venom: The Last Dance is the right type of movie. Not only that but the 4DX version is combined here with 3D, which is now a relatively rare format. Venom: The Last Dance does have a RealD 3D release, but here in the UK these are limited so if you like visual depth to your movies, (if not narrative depth), 4DX 3D is your best bet.
If you want your seat to sit still but are still looking for something a little ‘extra’ then you might want to consider ScreenX, which shows additional picture information to the sides of the main screen – literally down the walls. I’ve had a mixed experience with this format. For example, it was great for Gran Turismo but less so for The Creator. If you do go, try and sit about halfway or a bit closer – that way you get the experience of the image filing your peripheral vision and not simply playing out in front of you, and as the screens are not so large, sitting closer will increase your immersion.
I’m a big fan of Dolby Cinema, which on a technical level offers the best quality images you can find (at least until Barco HDR-equipped theaters become more widely available), and Venom: The Last Dance is showing in that format. This means it has been graded to take advantage of the higher brightness, near HDR capabilities of the system as well as Dolby Atmos audio mix. Dolby Cinema screens also have really comfy seats so combined it should all make the trip worthwhile.
Alternatively, you can opt for another premium large format system that doesn’t have HDR but combines 4K Laser projection with an extra-large screen and Dolby Atmos audio – these are known as Superscreen by Cineworld in the UK, while in the USA, you’ll find them at Regal RPX and AMC PRIME.
The big one though for Venom: The Last Dance has to be IMAX, and in the case of this movie it could be split into six different formats. The reason is that the movie in IMAX has both 2D and 3D versions – and each can be shown in one of three different projection technologies – either Xenon, (standard lamp), single laser, or dual-laser. Laser means a brighter, more color-rich image and 12-channel sound too, while Xenon will tend to be darker and limited to six-channel. If you want to go 3D you want it to be one of the laser-based versions and the generally darker image produced by older Xenon lamps doesn’t do 3D any favors.
Venom: The Last Dance was shot using IMAX-certified digital cameras, (hence the Filmed for IMAX marketing) which means that in whatever IMAX screen you see it in, extended sequences will be shown in the 1.90:1 aspect ratio, which means additional image to the top and bottom of the standard ‘scope’ 2.39:1 image shown in all other formats (bar the even wider ScreenX). If you can find the movie in IMAX 3D with Laser, I’d say go for that as the hero format, especially as 3D conversions these days are quite decent–unless you don’t care for the glasses in which case IMAX 2D Laser is your top choice.
