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That temple of eyeball-popping hugeness on the South Bank, the IMAX is under new ownership and more spectacular than ever.
The BFI has officially taken over London’s biggest cinema screen and unveiled a new, freshly souped-up projection system and freshly spruced auditorium.
A new laser projector has been installed, alongside the traditional 70mm IMAX version, to bring richer clarity and contrast to its new 65-foot screen. There’s also a next generation 12-channel sound system which, it’s promised, will deliver ‘a new kind of powerful, immersive sound’ (their words) and have your eardrums cowering behind your brain (ours).
The 493-seat auditorium, which first opened in 1999 and hosts 300,000 moviegoers every year, also boasts brand new seats, carpeting and four wheelchair spaces. With the BFI now running and programming the cinema, expect a mix of big blockbusters and screenings that tie-in with BFI Southbank seasons.
If you fancy getting the smell of new cinema into your nostrils, you can currently catch ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, with festive action film ‘Violent Night’ and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ still to come in 2022.
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