5 behind-the-scenes pics of new IMAX ‘Indiana Jones’!

’Raider’s of the Lost Ark’ returns to theaters 31 years after its original release completely restored to be released on select IMAX for only one week in September 7^, 2012, and on 69 of AMC’s theaters across the country a marathon of INDIANA JONES will be help on September 15^th, presenting: ‘Raider of the Lost Ark’, ‘Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom’, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’. This will be followed by a Blu-ray release of ‘Indiana Jones: The complete Adventures’ on September 18, 2012 which features seven hours of bonus material, with a two-part documentary called ‘On Set with Raiders of the Lost Ark’, also an hour of rarely seen on set footage and interviews with director Steven Spielberg, Executive producer George Lucas and Harrison Ford.

I have to admit that I haven’t seen ’Indiana Jones: Raider’s of the Lost Ark’ probably since I was a little kid, which is no surprise since this first Indy film came out in 1981. So, it’s fair to say that seeing it in the AMC IMAX theater that Paramount took us to was as if I were seeing it for the very first time, as I recall very little of it. Seeing it on IMAX though was fantastic as the high definition quality of the picture really brings out the colors and clarity in the film and now I can see why women go crazy over Harrison Ford, he was a total hunk when he was younger.

The film was restored into the image and sound quality that is expected of IMAX, with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the original. The problem is that we’ve grown so accustomed to the special effects and thrills that technology has given us that some of the action scenes look almost silly; but they are still certainly fun to watch. The dialogue is certainly outdated, but it gives us a look back as to how movies were 30 years ago. The IMAX experience was very rewarding and still very entertaining.

The next morning after a late viewing of the film, we were taken up to George Lucas’ very own SkyWalker Ranch, about an hour outside of San Francisco in a dense area where deer were out running around the hills. As we arrived we drove past the main house to the tech building, where we had a brief press conference in the in the beautiful in house movie theater with sound designer Ben Burtt and visual effects director Dennis Muren.

After the press conference we were given a very special exclusive treat…a trip to Lucasfilm Archives! There we were surrounded by objects and artifacts used in the ‘Star Wars’ movies like a life size R2-D2 and Chewbacca mask, also there was a different display for each one of the Indiana movies starting with his usual archeologist outfit, hat, whip and all, followed by the main treasures of each movie such as the Ark from the first and the Crystal skulls from the last. Truly, a fan’s dreams come true!

They also explained to us how an Indiana Jones adventure called “Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology” which first opened in Montreal’s Science Center and then went on to Valencia’s Ciudad de Las Artes y Ciencias; will premiere in the United States at Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California on October 12,2012 and will continue until April 21, 2013. The exhibition, which will be about 10,000 square feet, is equipped with a personal video companion, where visitors can go on a quest to find the real origins of archaeological mysteries. It contains materials from the Lucasfilm Archives, as well as videos from the National Geographic Society and Penn Musuem.

After this gratifying experience we took a short walk around the surroundings of the Tech building where we saw grapevines and other crops in a lovely, peaceful scenario accompanied by a small lake.

Needless to say that the die-hard fans of Indiana Jones have all the things listed on here to look forward to. It sure will be a treat for the generations that grew up watching the films and for the new ones being introduced to them.