Ever since THE DARK KNIGHT gave audiences a taste of a superhero movie with footage filmed for a larger-than-usual format, the IMAX brand has moved out of museums and into the multiplex. Now if you want to see a movie with IMAX footage, you can look to titles like MUFASA: THE LION KING and, at some locations, NOSFERATU.
Even more movies are formatted for IMAX, so that there's a new IMAX movie in theaters multiple times a year. If you're looking for IMAX movie showtimes and other info about seeing IMAX movies, we're here to help!
A Brief History of IMAX
IMAX was born in the 1970s. The company develops both theater technology and film-capture systems. A movie might be created with IMAX cameras. Christopher Nolan uses these extensively, as does DUNE director Denis Villeneuve. Even movies filmed for IMAX can be projected in a non-IMAX theater.
A few IMAX theaters offer 70mm film projection, which can create an amazing viewing experience. (This was positioned as the ideal way to see OPPENHEIMER.) There are only a handful of those theaters in the United States, however. And there are still some IMAX theaters at museums which offer large-format film projection but do not show commercially-released movies.
New IMAX Movies This Season
These new movies will play on IMAX screens at participating Cinemark theaters.
Mufasa: The Lion King
MUFASA: THE LION KING enlists Rafiki to relay the legend of Mufasa to young lion cub Kiara, daughter of Simba and Nala, with Timon and Pumbaa lending their signature schtick. Told in flashbacks, the story introduces Mufasa as an orphaned cub, lost and alone until he meets a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny—their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe. Read more about MUFASA: THE LION KING here.
Nosferatu
Robert Eggers’ NOSFERATU is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake. Read more about NOSFERATU here.
Why Doesn't Every Movie Use IMAX?
IMAX cameras create amazing images but they can be bulky and expensive. The film-based IMAX cameras, which Christopher Nolan prefers, are also quite loud, which has always made them difficult to use for intimate scenes. New tech was developed to make OPPENHEIMER easier to capture entirely with IMAX film cameras, for example, and perhaps we'll see other filmmakers taking advantage of it.
Find Cinemark IMAX locations by clicking below.
All images courtesy of IMAX.