The Ultimate Immersive Experience
IMAX (an abbreviation for Image Maximum) is more than just a film format; it is a complete, proprietary ecosystem of production and exhibition technology designed to deliver the most immersive and highest-fidelity cinematic experience possible. From its unique cameras and projectors to its custom-built theaters with massive screens and powerful sound systems, the IMAX brand is synonymous with large-scale, spectacular filmmaking.
True IMAX: The 15/70 Film Format
The original and still-revered “true” IMAX format is a marvel of analog film engineering. It is based on 70mm film stock, but with a crucial difference: the film runs horizontally through the camera and projector, not vertically. This allows for a much larger image frame that is 15 perforations wide. The result is a film frame that is nearly ten times the size of a standard 35mm frame, and about three times the size of a standard 70mm frame. This massive negative area produces an image of astounding resolution, clarity, and brightness, with no visible grain.
This format is paired with a unique, taller aspect ratio of 1.43:1. In a specially designed IMAX theater with a towering, multi-story screen, this taller image is designed to fill the viewer’s entire peripheral vision, creating an unparalleled sense of immersion.
Digital IMAX and the “Filmed for IMAX” Promise
Today, the majority of theaters bearing the IMAX brand use high-quality digital projection systems. While these systems provide a superior experience to a standard theater, they often do not replicate the massive screen size or the unique 1.43:1 aspect ratio of the original 15/70 film theaters. This has led some cinephiles to distinguish between the two, sometimes referring to smaller digital IMAX installations with the pejorative term “LieMAX.”
When a film is marketed as “Filmed for IMAX,” it means that major portions of the movie were shot using either the 15/70 film cameras—the gold standard, used almost exclusively by director Christopher Nolan—or IMAX-certified, high-resolution digital cameras. In a true IMAX theater, these sequences will expand vertically to fill the entire screen, creating a dramatic shift in scale and immersion for the audience.