AMC, a large movie theater chain, and IMAX corporation, a movie format company, are engaging in something highly deceptive, arguably unethical, but likely legal.
But let’s back up a bit first. For those of you that have not seen a classic IMAX film before, such as the one at the St. Louis Science center, let me describe it for you: It’s awesome. The screen is over 50 ft tall and wraps around the audience like a bubble. You feel like you are immersed into the movie. The film is 70mm rather than 35mm, so you have twice the resolution in both the horizontal and vertical directions. It uses 6
track surround sound (or better), so that it feels like you are surrounded by the sound.
Even though nearly every film I’ve seen in IMAX sucked as far as plot line and story went, the visuals and sound were so overpowering that I enjoyed the experience anyway.
To keep things clear, I’m going to “name” what I just described as “IMAX classic”.
A trend that started a few years ago is taking standard movies and “remixing” them for the IMAX classic theaters. These movies where not true IMAX, but were considered a somewhat better experience of the same movie, so some folks went for it. Some of these showings were labeled as IMAX, which is somewhat confusing since they were not IMAX classic, they were simply better versions of standard movies shown on the nice IMAX screens.
But the latest move adds even more confusion. You see, the trademark IMAX really only means that the IMAX corporation is willing to call it IMAX. Recently, they created a far inferior product called IMAX digital. The “digital” bit is in the fine print. You see, it’s not a 50 ft or 100 ft tall screen. It’s a 28 ft screen which isn’t much bigger than plain screen. The resolution is exactly the same (1080p; the equivalent of 35mm). The sound is only slightly improved. So, it’s “IMAX” only in the trademark sense. Oh, and the movie cost $5 more to watch. A total waste of money if you were expecting the IMAX Classic experience.
A link to their promotion of IMAX: http://www.amctheatres.com/amctheatres/jsp/imax/index.jsp
They don’t say it outright, but it implies the classic “huge screen” experience not the piddly “slightly bigger” experience you actually get.
So, is IMAX like IMAX anymore? Don’t know. Roll the dice and hope you don’t get ripped off.