Inside the UK’s biggest IMAX with a 85ft-wide screen and laser projections 

MailOnline has had a behind-the-scenes look at the newly upgraded 500-capacity IMAX cinema in London ahead of its official opening to the public today. 

The legendary cinema, which originally opened in 1999 but has been renovated under new ownership, features a jaw-dropping screen measuring 85 feet wide and 65 feet high – taller than four double decker buses.

It also has laser projection technology and a powerful 12-channel sound system to provide cinemagoers with a more ‘immersive’ and life-like viewing experience.

MailOnline got a sneak peek at the cinema, located in the middle of a roundabout in London’s Southbank district, including the whopping new screen in action and the laser technology inside the projection room. 

BFI IMAX has now reopened to the public with screenings of the new Marvel blockbuster ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.  

The renovated cinema is now operated by the British Film Institute (BFI), after being operated by Odeon for the past 10 years under a concession agreement. 

BFI IMAX is a huge circular glass building located in the middle of a busy central London intersection near Waterloo station, only accessible through hidden entrances that are reached through an underpass. 

Although the IMAX has a London Underground line just 13 feet below, it is totally sound and vibration-proof, as the entire upper structure sits on anti-vibration bearings to prevent noise propagation. 

Unlike the commercial ‘multicomplexes’ that are dotted around the country, BFI IMAX has just one screen, but its hefty size shows that quality is more important than quantity. 

Entering the lobby it looks like any other cinema, albeit slightly rounder, but once you climb the stairs and enter the theatre, the vastness of the new screen really catches your breath.

Like a massive cliff face, standing too close for too long can give your neck cramps. Fortunately, even the closest seats are a good distance away. 

Dominic Simmons, head of technical services at BFI IMAX, told MailOnline that the new screen – officially the biggest cinema screen in the UK – was shipped in from Canada only a couple of weeks ago.

Amazingly, it’s not even the largest screen in the world; that title goes to the Panasonic IMAX Theatre in Sydney, Australia, which measures 117 feet by 97 feet. 

The new BFI screen is a ‘sliver’ screen – a classic type of projection screen that’s covered with reflective paint to give it a highly reflective surface. 

Due to the fact that there are speakers behind it, the screen is also perforated in order to let the sound through, although there are also speakers on the ceiling and either side of the audience. 

After viewing some short films and being battered by the heart-palpating IMAX sound waves, MailOnline climbed to the top of the theatre to the projection room, which houses the new laser projector. 

Compared with digital video or even good old traditional film, laser projection provides better sharpness, brightness, colour and contrast (the range of tones between pure white and pure black). BFI wouldn’t reveal to MailOnline how much the new laser system cost. 

In the projection room – a paradise for film fans – the laser projector sits alongside the old IMAX 70mm film projector, one of fewer than 60 that exist globally.

This projector is still used for various 70mm showings of blockbuster films, including several made by British director Christopher Nolan and US director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Both directors are fans of the 70mm format – a type of high-resolution analogue film stock that’s twice the width of ordinary 35mm film, proving more detail in each and every frame. 

Nolan shot the entirety of his 2017 war epic ‘Dunkirk’ using IMAX cameras and 65mm film (although it was projected in 70mm). 

In the BFI IMAX projection room, a collection of 70mm reels for films including ‘Inception’ and ‘Batman Begins’ are so heavy they need to be moved around with a small forklift. 

The new system is also 4K, meaning it has more than eight million active pixels – the incredibly small points of light that are fired out of the projector and onto the screen. 

BFI IMAX also has more wheelchair space, plush new seats and fresh carpeting. 

Simmons told MailOnline that the upgrade to the theatre is only ‘phase one’ of the venue’s renovation; phase two will involve a refresh of the lobby. 

Following screenings of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, BFI IMAX will be showing James Cameron’s hugely-anticipated Avatar sequel, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, which opens December 16. 

BFI also said the newly renovated space will host immersive and extended reality (XR) content, such as augmented reality, as well as special events and films that showcase BFI National Archive, which focuses on preserving and restoring films.