For more than 50 years the film studios have sweated over how to bring the silver screen to the viewing public in three dimensions.

But today a slice of cinematic history will be made when two South London auditoriums raise the curtain on a new generation of digital 3-D screens not yet seen outside the United States.

The Odeon cinemas in Greenwich and Wimbledon are to begin screenings using revolutionary digital Imax technology, which promises to bring viewers the highest video quality yet seen, and the crispest audio available.

Gone are the paper glasses with red and green lenses; they are replaced by far less stylish tinted black plastic models, with tentacle-like head clips.

Although the first fully 3-D movie will not hit the screens until February, with Under the Sea, a feature-length documentary voiced by Jim Carrey, cinema bosses are pinning their hopes on a blockbuster slate of films incorporating 3-D scenes, including the next Harry Potter, drawing in the crowds.

Odeon has spent about £1.5 million kitting out one screen at each of the two cinemas with the digital technology, which means that movies can be played from a computer file instead of needing bulky, and costly, reels of film.

Rupert Gavin, chief executive of Odeon, said that viewers would be met with a cinematic experience that they had never experienced before. “It really has the capacity in these desperate times to catapult people into a different world,” he said. “It does that in spades. Particularly the fantasy films like Batman - it’s a world that audiences can get immersed in.”

Imax, the company behind the innovation believes that its curved screens and high-tech speaker systems will revolutionise the cinema experience.

Larry O’Reilly, executive vice-president of Imax, said: “We’re using two projectors instead of just one, so that means we’re putting much more light on the screen, which allows us to crank up the contrast and gives you better colour separation and makes it more lifelike and satisfying to the eye.

“We’re also ensuring that you get the best possible sound. Each individual speaker cone is checked to make sure it’s operating properly. If it’s not, the other cones can compensate. Our sound system has 12,000 watts of power. When you’re in a battle scene and the ground starts to shake, you start to shake too.”

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, set for release in July, will have key scenes remastered into three dimensions, with a flashing indicator on the screen telling viewers when to put their glasses on.

“When people come to see Harry Potter the most obvious difference is that in the Imax alone there will be 2-D action that has been converted to 3-D,” Mr O’Reilly said. “When Harry Potter flies, you get to fly with him.”

The added action comes at a price, however. Tickets to see films at the new screens will cost £11.50 for adults and £8.50 for children, £3 more than a typical ticket.

Odeon also hopes that it can take the technology beyond films. It is planning to use the digital Imax screens to show Formula One racing as well as football matches.

Although there are about 50 cinemas in Britain capable of showing 3-D films, the screens in Greenwich and Wimbledon will be the only cinemas outside the US to use giant-screen digital Imax projection.

Historical dimensions

—3-D films have been around since the 1890s, when William Friese-Greene, a British pioneer, filed a patent for a version

—The earliest known commercial release in 3-D was The Power of Love, in 1922, which relied on a dual-strip projection that ushered in red and green glasses – as well as splitting headaches

—After the invention of television, film studios threw resources into 3-D. Arguably the most famous feature film using the technique was The Creature from the Black Lagoon, a 1954 production

—3-D fell out of favour with the advent of widescreen cinema, but returned in the 1970s, with the sex comedy The Stewardesses

—In the 1990s the popularity of the giant Imax screen led to studios revisiting 3-D. Polar Express made 25 times more there than at conventional cinemas

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