What is IMAX and how is it different from regular film-watching experience?

Everything you need to know about the 'gold-standard' of theatre and filming experience\

Media reported that Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer's most expensive ticket sold for Rs 2,450 at PVR Icon Phoenix Palladium IMAX in Mumbai. While IMAX is known to have more expensive tickets than regular 2D cinemas, what about the IMAX experience drives such high demand among moviegoers?

 

What is the IMAX format?

IMAX is a motion picture film format. It consists of a system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and film theatres. Developed in Canada in the 1970s, IMAX seeks to give the viewer an immersive movie-watching experience with its large screens. IMAX theatre screens have a tall aspect ratio of 1.43:1 or 1.9:1. The screens can be 18 by 24 metres in size, with the largest screen in Leonberg, Germany, measuring 38.8 m by 21 m. The IMAX in Leonberg is also the largest IMAX theatre in the world, measuring 814.8 sq m in size.

 

Unlike traditional theatres, in IMAX, the films run horizontally, making the image width greater than the width of the film stock. This is used exclusively in purpose-built theatres with dome screens.

This format was conceived and is owned by IMAX Corporation.

 

How is IMAX different from regular cinema experience?

The IMAX film standard uses 70 mm film run and is run through the projector horizontally. In normal film projection theatres, a 35 mm or a 70 mm film is run vertically to project on the screen. In the IMAX format, the images that can be produced on the screen can be 8.3 times as large as the regular 35 mm film or 3.4 times as large as the regular 70 mm film.

This technique allows the screen to produce images 8.3 times as large as the 35 mm film format and about 3.4 times as large as the 70 mm film run that is run vertically through the projector. The former is the setup of regular movie theatres.

IMAX theatres create a more immersive viewing experience with the massive screen, which delivers up to 40 per cent more imagery due to its high-resolution 3D technology.

The IMAX theatre itself is also designed with steep seating to allow for an unobstructed view of the screen from any place. The theatres also run two projectors simultaneously to balance the warmth and sharpness of the film.

IMAX theatres are also equipped with precision-tuned, integrated sound systems that deliver powerful and immersive audio experiences. Every sound, from the faintest whisper to the loudest explosion, is reproduced with clarity and positional accuracy, creating a captivating and enveloping auditory environment. This also allows audiences to feel the sounds and beats instead of just listening to them.

Because of such experience, filmmaker Christopher Nolan says, "It's the gold standard and what any other technology has to match up to."

 

History of the IMAX Corporation

IMAX Corporation was founded by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C Shaw in Canada during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The system was first showcased at Expo 67 in Montreal, where it garnered significant attention and praise for its revolutionary approach to film projection. The first permanent IMAX Theater opened in Toronto in 1971, offering viewers an immersive experience that went beyond traditional cinema.

Adlabs IMAX in Wadala, Mumbai, was the first IMAX theatre to open in India in 2001. With 520 seats, it claimed to be one of the largest screens in the world at the time.

 

Cost of setting up an IMAX theatre

In 2017, IMAX invested a whooping Rs 55 crore in setting up IMAX theatres in India with PVR. At the time, Ajay Bijli, the chairman and managing director of PVR Ltd, had stated that the cost of setting up each theatre ranged between Rs 10 to 10.5 crore.

PVR is IMAX's largest partner in India, especially after its merger with Inox in February 2023, now named. PVR Inox Ltd.

 

Profits and revenues

Aside from the slowdown in 2020 due to the lockdowns, IMAX has consistently reported gross annual profits above $100 million. In 2020, profits fell to $22 million. The following year the company reported a profit of $134 million in 2021 and $156 million in 2022, according to Macrotrends stock screener.

In the quarter ending in March, the screen technologies company reported $86.9 million in revenue, up 45 per cent more than last year, which reported $60 million.

In India, PVR Inox Ltd reported a net loss of Rs 333 cr in the last quarter of the financial year 2022-23. However, they did see a 113 per cent jump in year-on-year revenue. It must be noted that these figures are for PVR Inox and are not exclusive to IMAX. 

A ticket to an IMAX show can, on average, range between Rs 500 to Rs 1200, depending on location, film, day and timing.

 

Highest grossing movies

In January, Avatar: The Way of Water became the second highest-grossing IMAX film of all time after Avengers: Endgame. It brought in $227 million at the global IMAX box office. 

In February, Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan became one of IMAX's biggest blockbusters in India, crossing Rs 950 crore in less than a month after its release globally.

 

IMAX expansion in India

Dhoom 3 was the first Indian film to be released in IMAX in 2013, and Pathaan was the first movie to be filmed using an IMAX camera in 2023.

Since its opening in 2001, IMAX has been slow to grow in India with only 23 theatres operating nationwide. The company announced its plans to reach 40 locations in the country back in 2018.

In January 2023, Richard Gelfond, the chief executive officer of IMAX, spoke to Mint about six more IMAX theatres by the end of the year.

IMAX is also partnering with local studios and producers to promote the use of IMAX cameras for big-budget films. Christopher Nolan used this to film many of his movies, including the much-awaited Oppenheimer.

Gelfond said, "Our strategy of doing Hollywood films was good, but it was limited. Many people want to watch films in their local languages; they want to watch the kind of films they're used to. So I think that's going to be one of the keys to breaking this market open."

Gelfond added that local Indian movies went from two per cent of IMAX's box office in 2019 to 30 per cent in 2022.

Pathaan and Adipurush were already released this year by IMAX and the company plans to release a total of 10-12 Indian movies this year.