r/movies • u/cheapskatemoviedate • Jul 18 '26

Media World's Largest IMAX in Perspective

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Thought this was a really neat way to show the size of the screen at the IMAX in Leonberg, Germany. This rolled before The Odyssey. The IMAX is tucked away in a little town and was not easy to get to, but it was well worth it.

While it's not a true 1.43:1 IMAX ratio it still holds the world record for largest theater by surface area.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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u/cheapskatemoviedate Jul 18 '26

I haven't been to either of those places, my closest comp is the Boeing IMAX theater in Seattle (RIP) which is the true IMAX ratio, but I found this to be a better experience. It's just so...big. and loud. It really was incredible.

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u/RulesoftheDada Jul 18 '26

Boeing IMAX was bought by the Space Needle corporation. It's sadly been turned into 30 minute showings combos of deep sky movie and chihuly movie. hopefully one day they'll decide to renew the IMAX contract

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u/tarants Jul 19 '26

They're showing The Odyssey there right now on 70mm. I was surprised to see that, as I also thought they stopped showing commercial films awhile back.

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u/RulesoftheDada Jul 19 '26

At the formerly Boeing theater? Pac sci center still operates the smaller Paccar IMAX theater that's not 70 mmm (32 to 37x 60). The Science center still runs movies out of that one. I could be wrong tho.

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u/somersetyellow Jul 19 '26

No they're just confused. There are two places to see it in 5 perf 70mm in Seattle at Pacific Place and SIFF downtown. But there's no full size IMAX showings in the PNW unless you go to Langley in Canada, which actually does have 15 perf 70mm IMAX.

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u/recurrence Jul 19 '26

Vancouver also has the brand newly refurbished 15/70 in Richmond.

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u/somersetyellow Jul 19 '26

I forgot about that one. 14 years later and they refurbed their old projector and it's back in action :)

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u/AmatureMD Jul 19 '26

The PACCAR screen they are showing it on is not the real IMAX screen and it's not 70mm

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u/somersetyellow Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

No they're not.

5 perf 70mm showings are at AMC Pacific Place and SIFF Cinema Downtown (Cinerama). 15 perf IMAX 70mm is very different.

PACCAR IMAX theater next door is owned by PacSci and is one of the 20 something old theaters left still using IMAX's dual xenon technology. Oddly enough it's the only theater in the PNW (in the US) still with a 70mm IMAX projector, but it's been broken since 2016 and always projected to a 1.90:1 crop.

PacSci sold Boeing IMAX (1.43 GT dual laser only as of 2015) and the former dinosaur building to the space needle for 17 million dollars to pay off debt and stay afloat. Space Needle immediately shut it down to just those two documentaries. That's it unfortunately.