[Moonbase-discuss] Magnificent Desolation

[JonAlexandr@aol.com]

  Way cool!  --Jon

 (This is by way of an ILM friend.  I can ask for the URL if you need.)
____________________

 Tom Hanks and IMAX team up for "Magnificent Desolation."


 IMAX Corporation, in association with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's 
Playtone, today announced that the newest IMAX 3D space film, "Magnificent 
Desolation," will be sponsored by Lockheed Martin.  The highly anticipated film, which 
will be shot in giant 15/70 format using IMAX 3D cameras, will allow moviegoers 
to experience walking on the Moon alongside the extraordinary voyagers who 
have stepped upon its surface.


 Tom Hanks commented, "We went to the Moon.  Everyone knows that.  We -- by 
proxy in the form of the Apollo Astronauts -- flew up into the sky, sailed to 
the Moon, and landed on Luna Firma.  What we know too little of is what we did 
while we were there.  'Magnificent Desolation' takes the audience to the 
surface of the Moon -- to the Ocean of Storms, the Fra Mauro Highlands,  the Taurus 
Littrow Valley, as well as the Sea of Tranquility -- as only IMAX can.  
Exploring the Moon was humankind's most incredible roadtrip.  Our film will bring 
along anyone who wants to take that giant leap for themselves."


 "Magnificent Desolation," to be produced by Hanks, and Goetzman of Playtone, 
and by IMAX, will detail the life-changing experience of the 12 men who 
walked on the moon by showcasing what these men saw, heard, felt, thought and did 
while on the lunar surface.  The 45-minute IMAX 3D feature documentary will be 
directed by Mark Cowen, Emmy Award nominee for the documentary film "We Stand 
Alone Together: The Men Of Easy Company" (a.k.a. Band of Brothers), and 
supervised by Greg Foster, President of Filmed Entertainment, IMAX Corporation.  
Cowen is also producing, along with Mark Herzog.

 "Magnificent Desolation" will break new ground with never-before-seen 
photographs, CGI renditions of the lunar landscape, and previously unreleased NASA 
footage.  The film's content will be based on "The Lunar Surface Journals," a 
massive archival database compiled over the last decade by Dr. Eric Jones, 
which chronicles the Moon walks as recounted by the astronauts.


 The film will be brought to life in both IMAX and IMAX 3D on screens up to 
eight stories tall with 12,000 watts of pure digital surround sound for 
exclusive release to IMAX theaters in 2005.

 * * *