If you go to the movies, you may often see the options for a movie in digital or in IMAX. The high price may steer you away from the IMAX tickets and leave you asking, “what is the point?”
For many in the Greater Baton Rouge area, that is a completely valid question. What is the point? The answer is, unfortunately, not much of one.
In the film world, IMAX is a formatting of movie cameras and theaters that are meant to give the most immersive cinema experience. True IMAX theaters offer a much larger, curved screen with more detailed image quality and localized sound projection. Though the sizes of the screens may vary, they can provide a towering 70 feet of screen compared to the standard that sits at around 20-30 feet.
While the IMAX company boasts around 1,759 IMAX theaters worldwide, this does not mean everyone is getting the same experience. For instance, there are apparently two located at both AMC locations in Baton Rouge. However, these two locations are what is considered LieMAX theaters.
LieMAX simply refers to theaters branded as having the IMAX experience when they really do not. These LieMAX theaters may be slightly bigger than standard digital screens; however, they can be several times smaller than the real IMAX screen. The projections also get downgrades from the rich 4K lasers to a 2K digital format.
While this is still a bit better than your standard viewing experience, it hardly justifies the extra $4 to your ticket.
To get the true IMAX experience, there are only a handful of real IMAX theaters in the United States that have the necessary equipment to give you it.
One such theater is the AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York City. I took to this theater over spring break to truly test out the difference between LieMAX and IMAX. The difference is staggering.
First of all, the Lincoln Square IMAX is one of the larger ones, standing at about 75 feet tall and 101 feet wide. Gazing up at the screen is intimidating up close, and the screen’s curved makes it feel like it envelops you as you stare at it.
This peripheral effect totally immerses you in the film. Every frame engages all of your senses; it is almost overwhelming, but in a good way. This theater’s dual GT laser projectors aid in this, issuing higher color contrast and an elevated brightness to the image.
Last but not least, the audio might as well have been happening right next to my ear. With the localized sound, it felt as if every noise occurred in relation to how the characters would have heard it. If they shot a gun, I heard the blast right in front of me. If someone called out a character’s name, I heard it right behind me.
The hype is most definitely real. It is unfortunate that this is not available to everyone in Louisiana, because it is a must-see event.
For those who may not be able to make it out to AMC Lincoln Square, fret not. While the true IMAX experience is not right around the corner, the next best thing is.
The aforementioned local AMCs and the Cinemark at Perkins Rowe both offer screenings in Dolby Cinema. Dolby Cinema is a company with the same mission as IMAX: reinventing the cinema experience through stellar visual and audio advancements.
IMAX still wins out in the scale aspect of moviegoing. Dolby does not provide grand screen sizes, but it does go all out in its picture and sound quality. Dolby’s projections provide deeper blacks, which leads to greater contrast. As well, the company employs a 360 degree audio design to evoke that same feeling of hearing sounds the way the characters would.
To see where you can experience IMAX in true fashion, check out the IMAX website.
