Bigger, brighter, louder and with real 'snow'...
With the likes of Star Wars, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jurassic World all arriving in 2015 its hard not to be excited about what the year will hold.
But the movies themselves arent the only thing that should make this a veritable annus mirabilis, because theres plenty happening underneath the hood that should make your film viewing in both the home and cinema even greater in 2015.
With the giant tech show CES already done and dusted, heres seven big things in technology to look out for this year.
Mega tellys
If youre looking to upgrade your television to be at its absolute best for your favourite new films then this could be a wonderful year.
The most impressive things being shown at CES this were the televisions, as Korean giants Samsung and LG went head-to-head with their top tech.
In one corner was the OLED technology from LG - vibrant, beautiful, bendable and with darks that are actually the absence of light rather than a pixel trying its best to look dim. And from Samsung comes SUHD, which it claims is the brightest panel on the market.
Our early money is on OLED to grab the plaudits, but it really might well come down to personal taste, and all that competition could well drive things into the dont have to sell an organ to afford it price category.
The rise of 4K and UHD
Those big, bright and beautiful televisions are all very well, but what really made them awesome was their 4K screens and the ultra-definition content that was streaming from every one of them. Theres precious little point forking over your hard-earned cash for the latest technology if you have nothing to show it off, but 2015 is definitely the year for 4K content to become a more common place.
The likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime are already offering streaming offerings like House Of Cards and Marco Polo and with Sky and the BBC keeping the flag flying for the UK we expect to see 4K cinema experiences arriving in your living room on a regular basis.
And to tide us through, the improvements in upscaling - essentially allowing your television to take your content and make it seem more like a 4K offering - has come on leaps and bounds.
More 4DX Cinemas
Moving seats, special effects that range from bubbles and snow to wind and, a little worryingly, lightning - 4DX is getting more and more popular globally and the first UK 4DX cinema will arrive in January in Milton Keynes.
Resplendent with scents as well, 4DX ticks off all five of your senses - bringing a whole other level to films that, in all honesty, you probably neither asked for nor really wanted.
That said, it will add a visceral nature to more than a few of the coming years blockbusters, but dont (do?) hold you breath for the Jurassic Worlds inevitable dinosaur poo moment.
HDR
Theres one more big-screen screen tech hitting the mainstream and thats HDR which was ubiquitous at CES this year. High Dynamic Range is, essentially, more attractive pictures, allowing for more vibrant colours, brighter whites and deeper darks.
What this actually means is that things like sunsets or bright scenes take on a much richer look and feel, colours will resemble their real-life counterparts and your viewing pleasure will be upped considerably.
3D getting a bit better
The biggest issue with 3D is that it makes everything murky and, essentially, halves the resolution of your picture, but this is where all the things weve already touched upon, OLED/SUHD, HDR and 4K become increasingly interesting.
When 3D is viewed in 4K through passive (those ones you infuriatingly have to purchase in the cinema) glasses, the effect is a great 2K - better than Full HD - picture that can boost brightness, contrast and colours to the point where donning the glasses doesnt crucify the viewing experience.
This could bring some of those glorious (but all too far apart) 3D wow moments from the cinema and make them worth revisiting in the home. Maybe.
Giving us better day and date release movies
One of the few bright notes in the whole The Interview hacker debacle was that it illustrated to the world that there are mechanism beyond the traditional 'cinema to spinning media' route available for films.
Were not saying that we are rushing out to buy consoles so we can watch poor movies that are dropped by cinema chains, but its clear that how we view our films is becoming a more fluid world than its previous old school roots.
Affordable drones
Drones are not a new thing (in fact theyve been a bit of a trope for Hollywood in military offerings for some time) but as they become more and more affordable, and as high-quality video cameras get smaller and lighter, the amount of drone-filmed footage that you are going to see in films is going to, ahem, go through the roof.
Helicopter shots are great but expensive, so drones mean that the cost of aerial shots will plummet. The only real issue will be directors starting to 'drone it in'. (Groan) This article is brought to you by TechRadar to celebrate its brand-new design. TechRadar is a global technology news and reviews site, read by more than 20 million people a month.
The Inside Out 2 panic attack scene is one of the best depictions of anxiety ever – and something Pixar director Kelsey Mann is incredibly proud of: "I couldn't be happier"
There was "no version" of Sonic 3 that wouldn't include Live and Learn according to director Jeff Fowler: "The fans would hunt me down"
The Inside Out 2 panic attack scene is one of the best depictions of anxiety ever – and something Pixar director Kelsey Mann is incredibly proud of: "I couldn't be happier"
There was "no version" of Sonic 3 that wouldn't include Live and Learn according to director Jeff Fowler: "The fans would hunt me down"
