IMAX in Hong Kong

What is IMAX, and is it worth it?

IMAX is a large-format projection and sound system: a taller, wider screen than a standard house, a higher-resolution image, and a sound system tuned to the specific room. The screen reaches closer to the edges of your vision, which is the whole point — it is about how much of the frame surrounds you, not just how big the picture is.

It is worth the premium on films actually shot or finished for it — large-scale action, science fiction, natural-history documentary — where the extra frame height is used. On a dialogue-driven drama you are paying for screen area the film never fills.

4 cinemas in Hong Kong currently run IMAX, with 73 screenings of 3 movies over the next week. Tickets start at HK$80 and average HK$177.

An IMAX screening costs about 68% more than a standard one. Whether that is worth paying depends entirely on the movie: the difference is obvious on a large-scale visual release and marginal on a dialogue-driven one.

Cinemas with IMAX: B+ cinema MOKO (Mong Kok East), Emperor Cinemas Macau (Lisboeta), Emperor Cinemas Tsim Sha Tsui (iSQUARE), MY CINEMA YOHO MALL (Yuen Long).

Showing in IMAX this week: The Odyssey, Resident Evil *, Once Upon A Time in the Middle East (Macau only).

Compared with the other formats

Hong Kong also runs 4DX, Dolby Atmos. Each sells something different — some the picture, some the sound, some the seat — and each has its own explainer and current screenings.