Film News Roundup: Pearl Jam, Abramorama Unveil ‘Gigaton Listening Experience’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – In today’s film news roundup, teams with Abramorama, “Bloodshot” get an Immersive Cinema Experience release, Philip Kaufman is honored, the Doc10 Festival unveils its slate and “Testament” gets rolling. 

RELEASE DATES

Pearl Jam and Abramorama have scheduled the “Gigaton Listening Experience” for March 25 in more than 200 Dolby Atmos-equipped theaters in 20 countries.

The immersive event takes place two days before the release of Pearl Jam’s album “Gigaton.” It includes a playback of the entire album in Dolby Atmos with visuals curated and created by Evolve, the filmmaker and artist behind the music video for the first single “Dance of the Clairvoyants.”

This marks Pearl Jam’s fourth theatrical collaboration with Abramorama following 2007’s “Imagine in Cornice,” directed by Danny Clinch; 2011’s “Pearl Jam Twenty,” directed by Cameron Crowe; and 2017’s “Let’s Play Two,” also helmed by Clinch.

Abramorama’s Evan Saxon and Richard Abramowitz said in a statement, “We are honored that Pearl Jam has entrusted us – for the fourth time – to help present their new record ‘Gigaton’ to fans around the world. Hearing ‘Gigaton’ in theaters equipped with Dolby Atmos sound, along with the amazing images that will be on screen, will be a gamechanger and give fans an experience unlike any other.”

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Sony’s Vin Diesel action movie “Bloodshot” has been selected as the next release in the Immersive Cinema Experience (ICE) format.

The studio has previously released “Jumanji: The Next Level,” “Bad Boys for Life,” “Spider-Man: Far from Home” and “Men in Black: International” at ICE installations.

ICE was launched three years ago by France’s CGR Cinemas with non-reflecting LED panels flanking each side of the auditorium to fill the moviegoer’s peripheral vision with custom, ambient images. There are 36 ICE theater locations in France. The first in the U.S. opened in late 2019 at Regal’s L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. “Bloodshot” opens in the U.S. on March 13 and in France on March 25.

HONOR

Philip Kaufman is being honored this week with a lifetime tribute at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris.

The career retrospective began March 4 and runs through March 15.

Kaufman will present the screenings of such films as “The Right Stuff,” “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers,” “Quills,” “Henry and June,” “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” and “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”

Kaufman will also give a Master Class, hosted by Bernard Benoliel of the Cinémathèque Française, following the screening of his 1978 film “The Wanderers.”

FESTIVAL

The Doc10 Film Festival announced its 2020 slate of films, running April 16-19,  at the Davis Theater in Chicago.

Six of last year’s Doc10 titles were included on the Oscars short-list.

“We launched Doc10 five years ago to give documentary films the platform they deserve,” said Paula Froehle and Steve Cohen, co-founders of Doc10. “Great documentaries open the door for audiences to explore the world in a way that narrative films cannot.”

This year’s festival opens with “The Fight,” which follows four dedicated attorneys of the ACLU as they face off against the Trump administration on abortion access, the travel ban, the 2020 census question, family separations at the southern border and the transgender military ban. The festival closes with “Boys State,” winner of the 2020 Sundance Grand Jury Prize.

Other highlights include Steve James’ “City So Real,” a four-part series chronicling the 2019 Chicago mayoral election, and Kirsten Johnson’s “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” which follows Kirsten as she helps her father prepare for the end of his life. The slate also includes “Athlete A” from Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk; “Collective” from Alexander Nanau; “Feels Good Man” from Arthur Jones; “Scheme Birds” from Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin; “Time” from Garrett Bradley; and “Whirlybird” from Matt Yoka.

PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT

Roma Roth and Christopher E. Perry of Reel World Management have tapped screenwriter Ian Jeffers to adapt David Morrell’s survival thriller, “Testament.”

Morrell created the John Rambo character in his debut novel, “First Blood.” “Testament” follows an ordinary family that’s forced to flee into a wilderness as extreme and unrelenting as the people hunting them.

Jeffers wrote the novella and co-wrote the screen adaptation of “The Grey,” starring Liam Neeson and produced by Ridley Scott.