Top 10 Large-Format Films That Justify the Hype
There are many days when I count myself so lucky to live in Los Angeles. But none more so than the number of revival theaters we have here that put the movies we love on the big screen.
And there's nothing better than seeing something you love in the large format the director and cinematographer intended.
I've gotten an opportunity to see some of my all-time favorite movies on film, and today, I wanted to go over some of those experiences.
These are my picks for the top 10 large-format films that justify the hype.
Let's dive in.
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
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- Director: David Lean
- Writer: Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
- Cinematographer: Freddie Young
- Format: Super Panavision 70
- Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Omar Sharif
I saw this at the Academy Museum last year, and it just blew me away. This is what the background screen was made for, and the undertaking to make a movie like this is the stuff of legends.
****It is the gold standard for 70mm cinematography.
Freddie Young’s capture of the Jordanian desert remains unmatched, and the format allowed Lean to keep the human characters small against the crushing scale of the dunes. If you haven't seen the 70mm restoration, you haven't truly seen the film.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
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- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
- Cinematographer: Geoffrey Unsworth
- Format: Super Panavision 70
- Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
This was the last movie I saw at the Cinerama Dome before it closed. We need LA to find a way to bring that historic theater back.
Kubrick’s obsession with technical perfection found its home in 70mm, and this is another movie that will blow you away. The format’s ability to hold immense detail allowed for the groundbreaking practical effects and miniatures to feel indistinguishable from reality.
The end "Star Gate" sequence remains one of the most visceral experiences in cinema history, thanks to the clarity of the large-format frame, and it will make you feel like you're on an amazing drug trip.
3. Oppenheimer (2023)
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- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Writer: Christopher Nolan
- Cinematographer: Hoyte van Hoytema F
- Format: IMAX 65mm and Panavision System 65mm
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon
This movie was such a wild ride on the big screen. You felt like you were there during the war, making moral decisions that would have implications for all time.
While many associate large format with sweeping landscapes, Nolan used the IMAX 15/70mm format to create "intimate" spectacles. We had so many emotional moments and quiet ones that delivered gravity to the big screen.
The creation of black-and-white IMAX film stock specifically for this project solidified it as a technical milestone.
4. The Hateful Eight (2015)
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- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Writer: Quentin Tarantino
- Cinematographer: Robert Richardson
- Format: Ultra Panavision 70
- Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins
I actually saw this on an IMAX screen with 70mm projection at the King of Prussia Mall. I still have my playbill from the special roadshow event.
Tarantino famously revived the Ultra Panavision 70 lenses (unused since the 1960s) for a film set largely in a single room.
I genuinely wish we had more outdoor stuff in this movie; the sweeping vistas are breathtaking.
The 2.76:1 aspect ratio creates a unique "wide-angle intimacy," allowing the audience to track multiple characters in the background of Minnie's Haberdashery. And it builds tension through blocking rather than editing.
5. The Master (2012)
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- Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Cinematographer: Mihai Mălaimare Jr.
- Format: 65mm (Panavision System 65)
- Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Another epic I saw at a theater that doesn't exist anymore in LA, the Landmark Century City, I got a healthy dose of PTA on the big screen.
He used 65mm to capture the post-WWII era with a richness that 35mm simply couldn't replicate. There's a scope here that shows not only a man's loneliness but also intimate details later.
It is a masterclass in using large format for character study rather than pure geography.
6. Dunkirk (2017)
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- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Writer: Christopher Nolan
- Cinematographer: Hoyte van Hoytema
- Format: IMAX 65mm and Panavision System 65mm
- Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy
All hail the IMAX Century City, where you can find me almost every weekend. This movie really moved me when I first saw it. I spilled a few tears to it, and I think it is one of Nolan's most underrated.
This is perhaps the most visceral use of IMAX cameras ever put to screen.
They hung heavy IMAX cameras onto the wings of planes and into the cockpits of Spitfires, so that Nolan and van Hoytema could achieve a level of immersion that feels like you were drafted into the Royal Air Force.
The expanded vertical aspect ratio in the IMAX sequences is essential to the film's sense of dread.
7. Ben-Hur (1959)
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- Director: William Wyler
- Writer: Karl Tunberg
- Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
- Format: MGM Camera 65
- Cast: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd
I actually think this movie gets a bad wrap, because people only remember the chariot race, but the actual movie is engaging and interesting as well.
It is also one of the most famous examples of the "ultra-wide" era. The whole movie was shot in a massive 2.76:1 aspect ratio using 65mm anamorphic lenses. Ben-Hur used the format to choreograph the legendary chariot race with unparalleled geography. You are in it for the whole race, and it really is one of the most breathtaking pieces ever put to screen.
The width allowed Wyler to keep the scale of the arena and the speed of the horses in a single, breathless frame that would be impossible to replicate in a standard 1.85:1 or 2.39:1 crop. The stunts are death-defying on the big screen.
8. Nope (2022)
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- Director: Jordan Peele
- Writer: Jordan Peele
- Cinematographer: Hoyte van Hoytema
- Format: IMAX 65mm and Panavision System 65mm
- Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun
When I saw this for the first time, I had no idea if I liked it or not, but the more I watch it, the more I think it is a masterpiece by Peele. He absolutely knows how to move the camera to get us into the position of the characters and also maintain this epic wonder.
Peele and van Hoytema also used large format to reinvent the "night" shoot. They built a custom rig that paired an IMAX 65mm film camera with an infrared digital camera. So they could capture daytime scenes and process them to look like hyper-detailed, expansive nighttime sequences.
9. Baraka (1992)
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- Director: Ron Fricke
- Writer: Ron Fricke, Mark Magidson
- Cinematographer: Ron Fricke
- Format: Todd-AO 70mm
- Cast: N/A (Documentary)
I had not heard of this movie until I saw it earlier this year, I think at the Aero. It's a non-narrative documentary that serves as a visual hymn to the planet. You kind of feel like you're in a movie mass while watching it.
It was shot over 14 months in 24 countries. Fricke used the Todd-AO 70mm format to capture everything from the erupting volcanoes of Hawaii to the organized chaos of Tokyo.
It remains one of the most beautiful films ever made.
10. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
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- Director: Joseph Kosinski
- Writer: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie Cinematographer: Claudio Miranda
- Format: Sony Venice (Digital Large Format)
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm
This is the movie that saved the theatrical experience. It delivered so hard and captured the visceral reality of G-forces.
Miranda used Sony Venice’s Rialto extension system, which allows the large-format sensor to be separated from the camera body. Then they had six "IMAX-certified" cameras to be crammed into the cockpits of F/A-18s. So you could get shots of the characters, too.
The result is a shallow depth of field and a crispness that makes the aerial dogfights feel terrifyingly real, proving that digital large format is the new frontier for practical action.
Summing It All Up
These are my picks, but perhaps you have movies you've seen in large format that are your favorite. I want to know about them so I can seek them out the next time they're in theaters.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Discussion in the ATmosphere