“Game of Thrones” is one of the most successful shows on TV without doubt, and HBO have been taking some rather interesting approaches with its production to match the sheer scale of its popularity. Recently, the studio has announced their plans to merge the last two episodes of season four in one full-length “movie”, and subsequently release it in IMAX theaters, something which would be a precedent in the industry. That’s not all, however – fans who go to see their favorite show on the big screen will also get the opportunity to be among the first to see the trailer for season 5!
The current plan is to run the “movie” in 150 IMAX locations for a period of one week, which is going to start around the end of January – the premiere will be on January 23, to be precise. In other words, the release will follow a similar plan like many major blockbuster productions, with the only difference that it revolves around a TV show and not an actual film.
The new trailer that will be shown along with the production will shed a little more light on the new season, according to reports – unlike previous trailers that have been released so far, which have been mostly teasers rather than actual full-blown trailers up until this point.
There also seems to be a lot of positivity from HBO’s higher-ranking executives with regards to the special “film”, as they are convinced that “Game of Thrones” is the perfect show for this kind of experiment. And indeed, everything about the series, from its production style to its action scenes and character development definitely lends itself towards a brilliant full-feature cinematic production, as long as the minor details are handled right.
Producers have also said that they’ll keep experimenting with more ways to deliver the show to its fans in an original format, making it more exciting and involving viewers from more diverse market segments. It’s certainly true that “Game of Thrones” has the potential to reach an even wider audience than the huge one it already has, but the show might have to see a few revisions to its format for that to happen. Of course, this can be applied retroactively to the already released episodes, so it wouldn’t be surprising if fans see all of the show’s previous contents repackaged into something new eventually. Until then, season 5 is approaching fast, and with it, lots of new developments are expected to hit the story – and as any true fan of the series should know, not all of those developments are going to be positive, and various characters might end up getting killed off.