Could Disney’s new “Infinity Vision” program be one PLF label to rule them all?

Disney

Disney Studios has announced Infinity Vision, which it describes as a new certification for premium large format (PLF) theaters. The company said that the certification will indicate to consumers, “which auditoriums offer the biggest, brightest, and most immersive cinematic experiences”.

While details are light in the announcement, it said the program would apply to auditoriums that meet “rigorous technical standards,” by offering,

• the largest screens for maximum scale,
• laser projection for superior brightness and clarity,
• premium audio formats for fully immersive sound.

While the company has said that the certification program has been done in collaboration with global theatrical exhibition partners, as of writing, no cinema chain has yet announced any information about how this would be applied or implemented. This description also makes no mention of a requirement for 4K projection and does not make clear what defines a premium audio format – does it refer to immersive formats such as Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D, or would a flat layer 5.1 or 7.1 system suffice?

THX For the Avengers Age

Many might recall the legendary THX certification for theaters and home media, which was created by Lucasfilm for the launch of Return of the Jedi in 1983. However, while the raison d’etre behind THX was to tackle the low audio visual standards in theatres at the time, Infinity Vision is Disney’s own labelling of PLFs, which by their very nature, should already be offering a high-quality experience.

The announcement mentions a September re-release of Avengers: Endgame in September ahead of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday in December. The more cynical have already noted that the announcement of the program could boost attention for the new Avengers film due to it not having access to any IMAX screenings, with Dune: Part Three, a real “Shot With IMAX” movie, having taken all of the slots for the December period. Indeed, the logo for “Infinity Vision” has the look of a Marvel film, while also confusingly bringing to mind the Disney Infinity action-adventure sandbox toys-to-life video game released several years ago.

Simplifying PLF

That said, there’s no question that the premium large format market is something of a mess with a veritable smorgasbord of cinema-branded acronyms for the consumer to deal with, from Cinemark XD, to Regal RPX, to AMC Prime, to Superscreen, to iSense, to EPIC, among others. While IMAX and Dolby Cinema have built up brands that may be recognized, even if they don’t know the technicalities, the rest of the PLF are confusing for the average consumer.

Disney says that launching the program, it is “unifying premium theatrical standards and reinforcing the value of the big-screen experience for audiences worldwide”. Certainly, a simple ‘Infinity Vision’ badge would help with this. However, if it can only be applied to Disney back movies, it may not be that useful a label. However, if it does make choosing a theater that delivers a high-quality experience simpler, I, for one, will welcome our new Infinity certification overlord.

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